Faust The Bat
by TheVulpineHero1
Summary: An escaped government weapon with a dangerous ability causes a number of issues for the Sonic Team. And to make matters worse, the government wants him dead. Will the Sonic Team ever discover his secrets and the secrets of his creation?
1. Chapter 1: Getting Out Alive

Chapter One: Getting Out Alive

Author's Note:

Okay, this is my current work, Faust the Bat. It's centred around an original character (guess whom) and is, I think, not that bad. Please read and review, as I'm quite interested to see what you guys think of it It's also spaced out for ease of reading. I hope you enjoy it. As this is being written, I have five chapters written up, so I'll try and post one a week for a while, and then it'll probably slow down a bit. I'm sorry about any formatting discrepancies between chapters- I generally experiment quite a bit with formatting when I get chance to. Once again, I hope you enjoy it

Chapter One: Getting Out Alive

A storm thundered on high as they descended deeper into the pit. It was one of GUN's top brass, General Oswin, and an entire platoon of ten scientists and fifteen soldiers. The scientists were all consulting page after page of advanced data that had been put on their clipboards. General Oswin smirked. He had always hated scientists. Foolish men with not the muscle to lift a gun, wasting their time on useless compilations of zeroes and ones. They were, in his opinion, beneath contempt.

"Soldiers! Be at the ready. I don't want anything going wrong." Oswin said, his self righteous little smile curling across his moustached lip.

"Sir! Yes Sir!" the soldiers called back in unison.

"Yes…you'd better have this squadron of lunkheads at the ready, general. The subject is dangerous, after all…" smirked the head scientist, a regrettable man with an appalling hunch.

Oswin snorted in disgust. They carried on walking deeper into the compound, at each turn confronted by more and more advanced security checkpoints- ranging from DNA tests to fingerprint scanners, from passwords to iris examinations.

"You know, Murphy, I'm starting to wonder if this little project of yours is worth the walk." Oswin said.

"Don't call me that. My name is Dr. Goriah. Get it right, you morbid toad." the hunched figure hissed back.

"I'm a morbid toad? At least I see the light of day. I think in the grand scheme of things, a toad like me is better than an earthworm like yourself." the general shot back.

"Quiet. We're reached our destination. Soldiers? Be at the ready." Goriah said, waving his hand.

They had arrived in a large circular room. The edges were dotted with tools that wouldn't look out of place in a common-or-garden dungeon. In the centre of the room, there was a huge black metal box. It gleamed menacingly. Occasionally, a blue pulse ran across the front, like that of a heartbeat monitor.

"Open it." Goriah said, motioning to the scientist in charge with a wave of the hand.

"O-ok. Opening Project No. 78."

As the man typed away at his computer, the general snorted in contempt.

"This is your project? It looks like a refrigerator. What are we going to do, offer our enemies cool drinks?"

"Look before you speak." Goriah replied.

Without warning, a giant sheet of reinforced steel covered the exit. The general looked around in alarm.

"What's the meaning of this?" he shouted.

"I told you. This subject is dangerous. We wouldn't want anything to happen to the base, now would we?" the scientist snickered.

"Preparing to open the Chamber!"

"Do it."

A stream of white smoke jetted out from the corners of the box. Four small explosives, put on the corners of the front panel, detonated. The front panel creaked, then fell, making an eerie clanging sound on the metal grill of the floor.

Inside the box, smoke billowed out so that it was impossible to see anything. The general waited expectantly. What he saw took his breath away.

"That's…that's…."

"Project Number Seventy Eight. Codename: Faust. This is the 24th model." the scientist said proudly.

In the box, secured upright by metal straps, was a bat.

"This is your great plan? A bat? This is what you spent so much time and money making?" the general said, his eyebrow twitching.

"Faust! Awaken!" Goriah commanded.

Nothing happened. The bat remained asleep. Goriah looked furiously at the scientist, who shrugged.

"Faust! I command you! Awaken!" Goriah said again, his voice echoing through the room.

Shortly after it echoed the general's sniggering.

"Sir? I just found some rather worrisome data…" the head scientist called out.

"What is it, you peon? Don't you realise that my reputation-"

"Sir! They've yet to insert it…"

"WHAT? Soldiers, ready!"

The general started. "What are you doing? You can't order my soldiers around!"

"Shut up, you fool! If we don't kill that thing now, it'll…"

"Destroy us." a dark voice came.

"Precisely, I…what?"

Slowly, the doctor turned, and looked at his creation. Its eyes snapped open. The irises blazed with a deep gold. There were no pupils within them.

"You…" the bat murmured. "What have you done?"

"I have done nothing, you-"

"Stop!" the bat shouted. As soon as the doctor said the first word, the bat's golden irises disappeared. Now, after a second of silence, they reappeared, and seemed to blaze with gilded fire as the bat stared in contempt at the good doctor.

"Who are you to give orders to me? I am your creator!" the doctor carried on. The bat's irises once again disappeared, then reappeared a second afterwards.

"You…created me. In accordance with the orders of your superiors…I was to be the second…out of the three…" the bat said in a faint voice.

"What have you done?" the bat said again, malice dripping from every word.

"I told you, I have…"

"What have you done?!"

"Soldiers! Ready your weapons!"

"What have you done…to me…?"

The doctor clicked his fingers. The sound of fifteen automatic rifles emptying their clips was heard half a second later.

"Tails! Tails, are you there? Please let me in!" Cream shouted, beating the door of Tails' workshop.

"Cream?" Tails said, looking out of his bedroom window. She was standing there, dressed in her little raincoat. Her waterproof hat didn't quite cover her ears, and Tails knew that was the reason why Cream wanted 'in' so bad. Cream hated getting her ears wet, because they had to be wrung out afterwards.

"I'll be right down!" Tails shouted, running out of his bedroom. He forgot that he'd placed a box of tools on the landing. He tripped over them, and went down the stairs rather quicker than he wanted to. And headfirst.

"Ow! Gah…" Tails winced, feeling the newly rising bump on his head. Tails was fifteen years old now, and wasn't as light as he used to be. In fact, the two-tailed kit was even taller than Sonic, and weighed slightly more. It wasn't a problem for his incredibly powerful tails though. Powerful enough to lift him, Sonic and Knuckles even when he was younger, the kitsune's prides and joys were now so strong they could split sheet metal clean in two, provided he swung them hard enough.

"TAILS! MY EARS ARE GETTING WET!" Cream shouted. Tails groaned. Now Cream was over-stressing. He dashed to the door, running the mini assault course that was his workshop. Over the workbench, through the chemicals, across the slippery floor, through the fire door…

"Wait…What the hell am I doing? Geez…I don't know what it is about Cream, but…" Tails muttered, realising he had gone in exactly the opposite way to the front door. In truth, it could be said that Tails had a slight crush on Cream. In the same way that Bonnie had a slight crush on Clyde.

Tails, however, was in denial. Whenever he thought of Cream in any way other than 'the sweet little bunny who comes to my lab every day and messes with all my stuff', he would immediately attribute it to stress, and occasionally to hypnosis. Shadow, having grown bored of playing the bandits at Club Rouge, had become a full-scale street magician in his spare time. This only became a problem when Shadow started turning up to the fights with Eggman in chains and a hat. As part of his act, Shadow had mastered the art of hypnosis. This had made the Sonic team very paranoid indeed. There was still video footage on the Internet (hail the Internet! .) of Sonic under the illusion that he was a duck. Unfortunately, it had been winter, so Sonic had tried to fly south. Off of a cliff. The video was titled, apparently, 'Sonic got owned.'

"TAILS! ARE YOU FLASHBACKING AGAIN?" Cream yelled.

"Ah! I forgot again! Geez…" Tails muttered to himself, weaving his way back to the house.

He reached for the door handle, and opened it tentatively. He was met by Cream's big pink boxing glove flying into his face. Amy's incredible passion for 'boxercise' meant that Cream had been dragged into the ring more often than could be counted. As a result, Cream had become a one shot wonder with those painful right hooks of hers.

"Hmph! That's for daydreaming whilst I was out there getting wet!" Cream sniffed. _Oh geez. Here come the waterworks, _Tails thought as Cream's eyes welled up.

"How could you let me stand out there in the freezing rain? You're supposed to be my friend! Now I'll need my ears wrung out! Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Cream wailed, her tears forming a classic anime waterfall to the floor. Even though Cream was now thirteen, and with enough power in her punches to floor a two-tailed inventor in a single sucker-punch, she was still prone to crying at regular intervals.

"Cream, it's okay, it's okay. What do you say to me baking you some cookies?" Tails soothed, stroking her wet ears.

"Y-you…sniff…bake…cookies?" Cream asked, looking up at him sorrowfully.

"Forget it! My ears are wet, but I don't really feel like committing suicide today!" Cream shouted, taking the opportunity to bop Tails on the head again.

"Ouch! Cream, take it easy! I hit my head falling down the stairs to let you in!" Tails yelped.

"You still haven't made up for the last time you cooked! I thought Amy would _never_ get off the can!"

Tails remembered the last time he cooked as well. He'd ended up with much worse than indigestion when Amy finally regained the ability to walk.

"Hmph! Well, if you're going to let me get wet, and then you're going to try and kill me with your radioactive cooking, then I'm leaving!" Cream huffed, walking towards the door. She took a look at the deluge outside, and decided that actually, she didn't want to get any wetter.

"Cream…I'm sorry…" Tails moaned, his voice taking the tone of an injured puppy. Although the crafty fox's voice had broken now, and was a couple octaves deeper than it had been, he still possessed the ability to hit those all important high notes when he had to. Tails was gratified to see Cream's hard stare soften. He'd learnt quite a while ago that if he did his little puppy voice and looked at her with his big blue eyes, she couldn't stay mad at him. What a pity the same thing didn't work on Amy!

"Grr…This isn't over, Tails! Now, where's your oven? I need cookies, but I'll make them myself!" Cream said hotly.

_Score! I'm off the hook! _Tails thought triumphantly. All those acting lessons had finally paid off.

"Tails? Is THIS your apron?" Cream said, wrinkling her nose and holding up what appeared to be a stained rag. Tails used his apron whilst painting the Tornado's body panels, and it got VERY dirty.

"Kiss the chef? With your cooking, it's more like Kiss of Death!" Cream shot. Tails smiled. The two were very jokey with each other- almost like him and Sonic, except with Sonic he tended to get suckerpunched a lot more.

As Cream busied herself with making the cookies, Tails turned on the TV and reflected on the young rabbit's change over the years. She was now a lot fiercer than she had been. Tails put it down to Amy's bad influence. She was a little shorter than Amy herself, and her fur had changed colours very subtly, becoming just a few shades darker. Her crest of orange hair on the top of her head had started to grow, making her look even more like her mother. Her voice had also lowered, but only a little bit. She had changed her tastes over the years as well, going from her old triangular dress to a white short-sleeved shirt and a knee length orange skirt. She hummed a popular song as she worked. Tails hummed along with her, and their musical rhapsody reached a tuneless crescendo. They both laughed. Tails smiled, and looked out of the window. The storm raged on outside, but it seemed a mile away from the two teens' sunny little world

The bat groaned. His body hurt. His arms hurt, and his legs hurt. His hands hurt, and his feet hurt. His head, his back and his wings all hurt. The only thing that didn't hurt was his heart. He took another step, and then another. It was a struggle, but he kept pushing his battered shell forwards, one step at a time. He looked down at himself, and saw his black fur stained red with his blood. He put his hand to his head, and immediately found the source. He pulled his hand away, and it, too, was stained red with his life. He stuck his finger in his mouth, and swallowed a spot.

"Hmm…I clearly am not a vampire bat." he winced, recoiling at the foul taste of his own life force. He let the pounding rain wash his hand clean, then carried on through the streets of Station Square.

Few people were outside because of the storm, but the ones who were flinched and looked away as the bat passed them.

"Hmph…humans. They are…too weak…" the bat mumbled to himself.

He dragged himself down the avenue, and suddenly saw the sea. It seemed dark and foreboding in the storm.

"I wonder…what would they call that great expanse of water?" the bat asked himself. A fresh bolt of pain shooting from his head reminded him that he didn't have time to procrastinate. He turned away from the sea, stepping out into the road. A car swerved and honked its horn, and the bat hissed as the sound and light assaulted his senses. Feeling the strain of another near-death experience, the bat lurched up into the nearest building. It was a sterile, loveless place, he thought, but at least it was free of that accursed rain. He saw a great metal object in the station. The bat sniffed. The smell of the fumes was offensive to his nose. Still, it looked safe, and slightly warmer. It was even devoid of people…

Making up his mind, the bat staggered up the steps to the platform. An elderly woman who was sitting on a bench waiting for the rain to stop gasped, and ran over to him.

"Dear! Are you alright? Here, let me get you to the doctors…" the old woman said kindly, grabbing hold of the bat's arm.

As she spoke, the bat's vision went black. Then, it returned, and he found himself on the floor, the old woman cradling his head. He coughed, and a spot of blood fell onto his open palm. He looked at it, then groaned and rose to his feet with surprising swiftness. He swayed for a second, then pressed his hand to his brow and took another step. The old lady frowned and didn't say anything. As wise as she was, she knew that there was no way she could help him.

The bat's tired feet carried him through the door to the train's carriage, and he slumped to the floor. The train, which automatically started running when someone got on, gave a jerk as it set off, flinging the bat's body up against the seats. A fresh wave of blood crept into his mouth. He was in for a long ride.

"Tails! The cookies are done!" Cream's gentle voice floated in from the kitchen.

"Aw, yeah! I love your cookies, Cream!" Tails laughed, jumping up from his seat.

Cream brought the steaming biscuits into the room, and then carefully set them down on the table. Or, rather, that was what she MEANT to do. What she actually did was fall over yet another conveniently placed box of Tails' tools.

Tails ran to catch her, but slightly misjudged her trajectory. He thought she was going to fall just in front of him. Unfortunately, the rabbit carried a little more momentum than he anticipated and ended up smashing him in the chest. The two fell to the floor, and Tails groaned. He opened his eyes, and saw Cream's face directly above his. She opened her eyes as well. For a second, nothing happened. Then, both the kit and the doe (author's note: a female rabbit IS called a doe. I know that most people already know this, but I was just making things clear.) started blushing wildly. Cream's eyelashes fluttered as she blinked quickly. Tails could see the shiny dots of water that had come from her crying earlier. His heart melted, and all he wanted to do was comfort her. Then, she lowered her face just a fraction closer to the fox's…

Boom! Something hit the door with unprecedented force. The spell was broken, and the young rabbit raised her head. Rolling off of Tails, she got up.

"Was that the door? Who do we know who knocks _that_ hard?" Cream pondered.

"I dunno. Even Knuckles shows a bit of appreciation for the cost of a new door…" Tails murmured, standing up.

He walked to his front door, and cautiously opened the door. As he did, the battered body of a bat fell into the room, covered with blood.

"Whoa, Tails…what do you think happened to this guy?" Cream asked, looking down at the bat's shattered form.

Certainly, it wasn't a pretty sight. The bat had been clothed in a greyish coat which covered a yellow sweater. The neck of the sweater covered his mouth. He had black, army issued trousers on, which were clearly well worn, as they had been patched at the knee. They were drenched in blood. His long black jackboots shone from the rain, and they too had a generous coating of the red stuff. His hands were wrapped in bandages. On his head was a mess of grey hair. A steady flow of blood trickled down from somewhere within it and onto his face. His wings looked broken, and they were full of holes, probably caused by bullets. His eyes were closed, and his prone body struggled for breath. Every time he took another gulp of oxygen, his chest rattled horribly.

"I don't know…but we'd better get him in. I'll get the heal unit generator up and running again. I just wish Sonic hadn't head butted it in that game of truth or dare…Cream, could you put him on the sofa?" Tails shouted, pressing a button. The sitting room table moved, and a hole opened, with a spiral staircase running down to the basement. The kitsune's twin tails gave a flick as the disappeared from sight.

Meanwhile, Cream carried the bat into the sitting room, and laid him down on the sofa. The bat coughed, then lay still. Cream was amazed at how light he was. It was like carrying a feather. Although, she thought, his wings didn't look nearly as developed as Rouge's. They were bigger, as they usually were on male bats, but they looked more fragile, somehow. If he weren't so light, there would have been no way those wings would carry him. Cream absent-mindedly picked up a cookie from the floor, wiped it on her skirt and ate it. She hoped Tails would be back with that heal unit soon.

In the basement, Tails looked around in a panic. Contained in the underground portion of Tails' workshop was the Tornado, several other inferior planes and the car he was working on for when he got a driving licence. It was a big space, but it was still musty because of the smell of the oil. There were also piles of incomplete inventions lying around, making finding the heal unit generator a difficult task. Taking to the air, Tails scanned the basement for it. He found it, and observed the damage Sonic had caused to it. It was nothing special, Tails decided, and it could be fixed in the usual way.

Picking up his wrench, he gave the machine a hefty thwack. His arms trembled with the recoil, but the generator spit out a single heal unit. It then died again. Sighing, Tails put fixing the heal unit generator on his mental to-do list, hoisted the heal unit up onto his shoulder and flew up the spiral staircase.

Cream gave an excited yelp as Tails appeared with the Heal Unit. Touching down, the orange kit took careful aim, then threw. The heal unit dissolved upon hitting the prone body of the black bat in a flash of blue light. Cream crossed her fingers, hoping for all she was worth that it worked.

Suddenly, the bat spluttered. He sat up, and clutched his head. It was still wet with blood, but, somehow, it didn't hurt him so much. He turned and looked at the fox and the rabbit with blazing golden irises. His pupils seemed to be missing.

"You…saved me…?" the bat said, his mouth slowly forming the words. He seemed to have a small problem with speaking, and clearly had to think about each word he said. His voice was the same deepness as Shadow's, but more faint and mysterious in tone.

"Well, you collapsed through our door and…hey, what's with your eyes?" Tails asked, seeing the bat's burning golden irises disappear into nothingness. A second later, they returned, and the bat looked at Tails in a way that seemed to suggest gratitude.

"Yes…you saved me…Pay my eyes no heed…it's a triviality…" the bat left off, his voice floaty and mystical.

"Are you sure? Is there anything you need?" Cream asked sweetly.

"Yes…there's something…I must know…" the bat said, his voice a faint whisper.

"What?"

"That box…the one with the pictures…what is it called?" the bat asked.

"That's…a television, or a TV for short. Haven't you seen one before?" Tails asked, one eyebrow shooting skywards.

"And…why am I on it?" the bat asked.

Tails and Cream turned to the TV. The news was on, and, sure enough, the bat was there. But he certainly wasn't in the same state as he was now.

"Tails…is that the GUN facility? And did he just FLIP A TANK?" Cream asked incredulously. The bat on screen carried on, thrusting a fist towards another armour plated behemoth, and just like the one before it, it flew twenty feet in the air and landed upside down with a crash, before bursting in angry red flames.

"Beware. This bat is very dangerous. If you see him, you are advised to run, and call the police or the army immediately. Do not approach him, he is extremely dangerous. Repeat…"

Tails and Cream turned simultaneously, and looked at the bat. His golden eyes narrowed maliciously, and his bandaged fists curled into a ball…

**Note**: I do not own nor do I claim to own Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Cream, Vanilla, Espio, Charmy, Vector, Omega, Shadow or Eggman. They are owned by Sega.

Vital Stats:

Word Count: 3,944 (according to Microsoft Word)

Date first published: June 1st

Random Character Note: Faust's theme is My Own Design by Trapt.


	2. Chapter 2: Weapon Specs

I decided to do a reasonably quick update for this story, because it's one of my favourites to write

Hey, . This s the second chapter of Faust the Bat's story. I hope it fulfils any expectations you may have had of me. C: Now, the story begins to get into the swing of things…And everyone's favourite hedgehog(s) join the action! Read on for more plot surprises in….

----------**********=============+++++++======++++++

Chapter Two: Weapon Specs

----------**********=============+++++++======++++++

Cream and Tails backed away as the bat slowly raised himself off the sofa. The bat's golden eyes burned with malice and hatred. His legs trembled as he rose- the dizzying effect of the heal unit hadn't yet worn off. He looked directly at the TV, his eyes narrowed. Then, he turned his gaze to Cream. It felt like a laser was being focused at her. He held her gaze for a few seconds longer- the poor rabbit couldn't look away. Then, his expression turned from steely malice to cold insolence.

"Thank you for your hospitality…I shall be leaving now." the bat hissed.

"You can't go out there! You'll die!" Tails warned, grabbing the bat's arm.

The bat turned to look at him. "And? What if I choose to die? The only difference is that if I go out there I'll die on my feet."

"But why do you have to die in the first place?" Tails shouted passionately.

"You really think that I can survive? Pay more attention to current events." the bat scoffed.

"I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding!"

"Don't be so naïve! This isn't a misunderstanding, it's just the truth about how the world works! The strong design weapons to oppress the weak and then de-"

BANG. The bat hit the floor with a thud, KO'd instantly.

"What a load of rubbish! Tails, you get this idiot on the couch whilst I go and ask Mother what we're going to do about him!" Cream shouted, rubbing her hand from where she'd slugged the bat. She walked off in a huff, muttering to herself furiously. She opened the door, and baulked for a second at the sight of the driving rain. But, biting her lip, she headed out anyway.

"Hey. Are you, like…still alive?" Tails asked the bat, kneeling down.

"Yeah, but I can't seem to move." the bat's muffled voice answered.

"Cream sure hits hard, doesn't she?" Tails asked, hauling the bat onto the sofa.

"Ain't that the truth." the bat chuckled darkly.

"She means well, you know." Tails said fifteen minutes later, sitting down with a cup of tea.

"Really." the bat scoffed, rolling over so he could see the fox.

"Cream can't bear to see anyone get hurt, and you were going to get hurt real bad if someone didn't stop you."

"…"

"So…You gonna tell me a little about yourself? I'll give you a biscuit." Tails smiled, waving a digestive in front of the bat's nose. The bat snapped for it, but Tails drew it away. The bat smiled roguishly.

"…I don't know. Can I trust you?"

Tails thought for a second. "I don't know. I'd like to say yes, but if GUN are after you, you must be pretty dangerous. Not to mention what you did to those tanks." Tails sighed.

"…you…have doubts?" the bat murmured. Tails nodded. "Good. You'd be an idiot not to, and as a general rule, I try not to trust my life to an idiot. Throw me one of those biscuits and pay attention."

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

Shadow watched the TV with widened eyes. As he saw the GUN logo on the tanks, his flaming eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Rouge! I'm going out!" he shouted over at the bar. The bat stopped polishing the glass she was holding, and looked at him.

"Why? I'm sure the TV can't be that boring." she said, jumping over the bar and walking over to him.

"Not boring. Disturbing. There's been a disturbance at the GUN compound. I still don't trust the military of this country. There's been some interesting rumours flying around lately…" Shadow mused.

"Really? What like?" the cunning bat asked with a smile.

"Rumour has it that I'm not the only living weapon that Gun had access to…" the ebony hedgehog trailed off. Rouge frowned.

"…so, I'm going to check it out. Stay here"

Shadow just had time to turn towards Rouge before she planted her boot in his face. The ebony hedgehog bounced twice on the floor before rolling to a halt. Picking himself up, he glared at the bat.

"What was that for, _ally_?" Shadow mouthed, drawing out the last word.

"Because you don't think, Shadow! By now, GUN'll have way too many soldiers in there for you to take. Even the Ultimate Life Form runs out of bullets!" Rouge said, seeing Shadow open his mouth in protest. Grudgingly, the hedgehog closed it again.

"Here's what we'll do."

"I'm listening."

"You use Chaos Control to get us both in…"

"No."

"Then, you make a distraction so I can get further into the compound…"

"Forget it."

"…and hack the computers. Then, when I'm done, we'll meet up and Chaos Control out!"

"Rouge, what part of 'You're being an idiot' don't you understand?" Shadow asked tersely.

"Well, let's go." Rouge waved, walking out of the club.

"Wait! Wait! Weren't we going to Chaos Control in? Hey, wait, you…gah! Annoying bat girl!" Shadow spat, racing after her.

Inside the GUN compound, a flash of light lit up an unused corridor. Seconds later, Shadow and Rouge dropped to the ground.

"Your safety is no longer my concern. Be back here in ten minutes, and no later." the ebony hedgehog hissed to the bat.

"10? Pick me up in five." the bat said, racing down the corridor. "Oh, and Shadow!"

The hedgehog turned to look at her.

"If you EVER call me an idiot again, my boot and your face are going to enjoy a short but sweet liaison!" the bat shouted, running off.

Shadow grinned, then went off to find some soldiers to pester.

Rouge ran along the deserted corridors of the GUN compound, her supple body warming quickly to the exercise. This was what she did best- stealth, information, and helping herself to everything that wasn't nailed down. She casually dodged and weaved through a laser grid. She cackled to herself as she thought of the last time Knuckles had tried it.

**-**Flashback-

"Come on Knucklehead! How can you call yourself a treasure hunter if you can't even get through one grid of electrified lasers?" Rouge taunted.

"Hah! I'll show you, you dingbat!" the echidna called, running into the grid.

**BZZZTTT!** "ARGHHH!"

"Hold still, Knucklehead!"

"But I gotta sneeze…"

"I'll go and get help!" the bat cackled.

"A…a…a…CHOO!" **BZZZTTT**! "OWWWWW!"

"I'm back!" the bat laughed. "I see your tail's already burnt to a crisp."

"Hey! How's a camcorder going to help me?" the fiery echidna.

"It isn't."

"Rouge! I'm gonna-" **BZZZTTT**!

-Flashback over-

"Good times, good times!" Rouge said, wiping a tear from her eye.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Hello? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Whassup, President?"

"It has come to my attention that one of GUN's enemies has trashed one of their compounds, and is looking to pick a fight with the military."

"Oh, I saw that. It was on the news, for cryin' out loud! Hey, did you see the way that tank flipped? That was cool…"

"Are you done?"

"Uh, yeah. So…what does all this have to do with me?"

"Our sources show that the target has taken some hostages in the Mystic Ruins area. He is holding their lives ransom for his own purposes."

"What?!?"

"It gets better. Do you know the names of those hostages?"

"Uh, no. I only just learnt there WERE any hostages."

"The names of the hostages are…Miles 'Tails' Prower and Cream the rabbit. Are those names familiar to you?"

"Why that little….Where are they?"

"Barricaded in Master Prower's workshop. Does this mean I can count on you to get the job done?"

"Definitely, Mr. President! I won't let my friends down!" –Click-

The president put the phone down after the click was heard. "No, I'm sure you won't…Sonic the hedgehog."

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

Rouge ran along, checking each area quickly for any sign of a computer that hadn't been wiped or broken. Eventually, she came to a room which had what looked like a large metal container in it. One of the sides was missing, and there were bullets lying strewn on the floor. Rouge shivered, noticing a draft coming from a large hole in the wall. She could see the force of the storm ravaging the GUN compound beyond it. The edges, however, were too precise to suggest an explosion. Rouge pondered it a little bit, then decided that, actually, she didn't want to get caught in a place like this. Seeing a laptop in the corner, she ran over to it, and flexed her nimble fingers. A second later, those very same fingers were nothing more than blurred afterimages as she typed away at the keyboard. Within seconds, she'd gotten access to the confidential files she needed.

"Tch. It's easier to hack the government's computers than it is to tie a pair of shoelaces." Rouge muttered to herself. (Her boots were zipper-boots, lol.)

"Let's see, Mr. Computer. Tell me what was happening in this room…" Rouge said in a sing-song voice.

"Hmm…let's see here…'Data Concerning Project 78, codename: FAUST to be wiped.' Faust? Let's see here…'Project 78, codename: Faust…Weapons specifications?' What the…fine, then. What were these specs? Let's see here…"

"'Project 78, codename: FAUST. SRTRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. FAUST is the codename given to the first line of GUN-manufactured organic weapons. Designed as a stealth weapon, the FAUST series is very lightweight and nimble. Unlike the original Faust that formed their namesake, they are black in colouring. Height at birth: 150 cm. Maximum growth achieved by subject in weapon life cycle: 165 cm…'what does this data mean? Think, Rouge, think!"

"Ah, here we go…Development cycle of weapon model FAUST. 'The original Faust was put in stasis and cloned in order to make the first model bearing the codename FAUST. However, it was clear that the original Faust's powers had not been passed on to the 1st generation FAUST model. After many experiments that ranged through FAUST models 2-14, we discovered how to trigger the psychic powers that the original Faust had incubated and which had been cloned into the FAUST series' brains. The solution was to implant microchips in the cerebral cortex. It was also known at this time that this method could also be used to facilitate control over an organic being…

Testing our theories got us through FAUST models 15-19. In FAUST model 20, we discovered that although we could control the FAUST model weapons adequately, their psychic powers were not as full as we would have wanted. Whilst the original Faust could read minds, the FAUST model's capabilities had been far weakened."

"What the hell is going on here? This doesn't make any sense…psychic abilities? The original Faust? Cloned FAUST model weapons? I don't like the sounds of this…" Rouge mumbled.

"Models 21-23 were used in experiments to amplify the powers lost. However, the powers still remained fragmented. Model 24 should be capable of more than they were. With regards to combat, the entire FAUST series had the same combat specs. FAUSTs are stealth weapons, so it was ruled that concussive rather than deadly force would be better. We developed a system whereupon a FAUST unit could use convert energy stored in their body to kinetic energy on impact of the fist- causing a blow that would send things flying, but not physically damage them much. However, this required a steady supply of energy which could not be supplied externally to the FAUST model.

The eventual solution to this was actually taken from an experiment done by Miles 'Tails' Prower. By hacking into his computer, we were able to take the data to make fake chaos emeralds (see case file .2293). By applying these properties to the FAUST models, it was possible to supply them with a renewable supply of energy (based on the Chaos emerald's ability to absorb other forms of energy.) An unexpected side effect of this is in the defensive aspect- the FAUST series is resistant to damage sustained from moving objects (eg Fists or bullets) because the kinetic energy can be absorbed and used to supply the FAUST unit.

In combat, the FAUST unit uses this energy via small slits in the hand area. This is why the FAUST unit's hands are wrapped in bandages- to avoid suspicion, and to prevent too much energy being released at once.

URGENT NOTE: FAUST model 24 has not had the controller chip installed yet. Do NOT experiment on as of yet."

"That's where the file ends, Rouge."

"Gah!" the bat screamed, turning around. She breathed a huge sigh of relief as she looked at the ebony hedgehog standing at her shoulder.

"I didn't want to come and look for you, but I suppose you did find the data I needed." Shadow chuckled.

"Yeah, I found the data, but it's so…weird. I don't know what it means. Never mind! Let's just take the computer. We can figure it out later." Rouge said, picking the computer up.

"Hmph. Ready? Fine then. Chaos CONTROL!"

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Hey mother. I need your help with something…" Cream said, walking into the house. "We have this guy at Tails' workshop, and he's being an idiot. Can you help us deal with him?"

The poor doe was soaked. Vanilla made a mental note to wring the rabbit's ears out later.

"Well…I guess I could talk to him for you. Oh, and Amy came over for tea today!" Vanilla replied.

"Hey, Cream. Can I help?" Amy asked, taking another swig of tea from the ludicrously small teacups Cream's family used.

"That's be great, Amy! Oh, and could you bring the Piko Piko hammer? We're going to need it."

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"THE GOVERNMENT HACKED ME?" Tails exploded.

"That's what it said in the files." the bat said lazily, taking another biscuit.

"Geez! Now I need a new password and everything…this sucks, Faust! Oh, can I call you Faust?" the kit asked.

"You may as well. If I'm to stay in this world, I shall need a name, and Faust is as good a name as any." the bat shrugged.

"So, how do you remember all that info from the files?" Tails asked, tapping away at the computer.

"It's downloaded directly onto my memory files in case of an identification request from a superior officer."

"What?"

"I just can."

"That works."

"So…lemme get this straight…" the kit said, preparing a mental summary. "You're an organic weapon developed by GUN."

"That's correct." the bat confirmed.

"Your body was developed by cloning a bat named Faust, who had pronounced psychic abilities."

"Also correct."

"By putting certain chips in your brain, they were able to give you the same psychic abilities, but weakened."

"Exactly."

"You're not one for small talk, are you?

"Hmm?"

"Forget it. So, what are these psychic abilities?"

The bat shifted his weight around on the sofa, so he was facing Tails. His golden irises, which had vanished as Tails talked, reappeared with blazing intensity.

"This may be a step that you wish you hadn't taken. If you know my secret, everything I say will change your life, and your opinion of those around you. Every word that passes from these lips might crush your world. Are you sure you want to know?" the bat asked, his dark voice lowering.

"I'm already in neck deep. I can't just stand here and do nothing now. Whether I like it or not, I'm already a part of this." Tails mused. "If you don't tell me, how can I help you?"

"…fine. Listen then, to the most dangerous words in the world…"

"I see the truth."

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"Sonic! Couldn't you handle this yourself?" Knuckles groaned. Although the rain had slowed down, it was still drizzling quite badly. When he was at Angel Island, Knuckles usually hid in the nearby caves if it rained. Here, he was completely exposed, and his dreadlocks were turning into a perm.

"Hey, they're your friends too!" Sonic said hotly, jabbing Knuckles' crescent patterned chest with a gloved finger.

"Yeah, but it's only one guy. I can't see how this needs two of us." Knuckles grumbled.

"Knuckles, this guy goes around flipping tanks twenty feet in the air! I'd like to be safe about it!"

"Hmm…Flip a tank, huh? Suddenly I'm feeling a lot more interested in this guy." the red echidna smiled.

The odd couple were standing on the little hill just before Tails' workshop. Sonic had a megaphone grasped in one hand, and the manual in the other. Knuckles was manning the binoculars and trying to look in through Tails' bedroom window at the fox's pin up posters. Unfortunately they were all of cars, so the echidna gave up.

"YOU! ENEMY OF THE GOVERNMENT! COME OUT WITHOUT HARMING OUR FRIENDS!" Sonic yelled. Through the wrong end of the megaphone.

"HEY SONIC, YOU"RE DOING IT WRONG!" Knuckles shouted through the right end. Sonic's head landed fifty feet after being blown off the noise.

"Hey! Mr Sonic! What are you doing here?" Cream asked, walking up to the KO'd hedgehog hero. "Oh, and Mr. Knuckles! What a surprise to see you here!"

"Oh, hello boys. What are you doing on this fine day?" Vanilla asked, walking a few steps behind her daughter. She was holding a large umbrella that shielded the three ladies from the drizzle.

"SONIKKUU!" Amy yelled, glomping the hedgehog immediately.

"Oh, we're trying to get the hostage taker to set you guys free." Knuckles said, slapping Sonic repeatedly.

"That doesn't make sense…" Vanilla murmured.

"We're trying to save your life here! Now could you go in there and try to convince the guy to let you go?" Knuckles said, de-attaching Amy.

"Okay, then…" Cream said, following her mother up into the house.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

Shadow's ruby eyes widened as he read the data. He read it again, and then a third time. It didn't change. He muttered under his breath, and occasionally swore. When he had finally took it all in, he stood up briskly.

"Rouge! I'm going out again!" he called.

"Why? I thought you'd already had enough excitement today." Rouge laughed, sidling up behind him.

"I have an appointment with that weapon. Out of my way!" Shadow said forcefully.

Once again, Shadow had the honour of having Rouge plant her foot in his face.

"I'm going with you. I noticed the words 'Stealth Capacities' in that data. If this is anything like Emerl, I could have another master thief on my hands!" Rouge said huffily.

"Darn it all, woman! Why do you have to be so…Gah! In that case, you'd better keep up!" Shadow raged, running out of the bar. Rouge followed at a slower pace, her nose heeding the scent of opportunity.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Hey, Tails. How's the idiot doing?" Cream asked as she walked in.

"The idiot's name is now Faust, thank you very much." the bat said coldly.

"Faust, hm? How odd…" Vanilla muttered.

"You know that Knuckles and Sonic think you've kidnapped Cream, Tails, Vanilla and me?" Amy said her eyebrow arching.

"No, but that knowledge brings me SO much joy." Faust said in an acidic tone.

"HEY! GIVE BACK EVERYONE YOU TOOK!" came the sound of a voice being amplified by megaphone.

"ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?" Tails shouted out of the window.

"NO! GET THE EVIL ONE OUT HERE!"

There was a scuffling, and Amy found herself unceremoniously ejected from the house.

"NO! THE OTHER EVIL ONE!"

Amy threw her hammer and Sonic went down like a super speedy sack of bricks. Tails chuckled.

"So, Faust", the kitsune asked, "what did you mean when you said that you see the truth?"

"When someone talks to me, I see the truth of what they are saying. If they lie, or if there is some intention or piece of information they are concealing, it will be exposed. It is an ability I cannot control." the solemn bat said, toying with the bandages on his hands.

"And…why is that dangerous? It sounds like a pretty good advantage in life if you ask me."

"Hah…Tails, sometimes the truth is not a pleasant thing. Sometimes, it is better off not being known. We are given the ability to lie for a reason- to protect. We can lie to protect ourselves and we can lie to protect others, but the truth always hurts someone if it is known." the bat sighed morosely. "I already know things that would hurt the Government immensely, which is why my ability is dangerous. Although we hate it when people lie, we would kill them to conceal the truth."

"Faust…" Cream said sadly.

"And, of course, there is the other thing which makes my ability a curse." Faust said matter-of-factly.

"What's that?" Tails asked, scratching his head.

"I see the truth whether I want to or not. But, in order to see the truth, my sight of the normal world must be sacrificed."

"So…basically…" the two tailed genius summarised, "You have no choice but to use your ability, but at any time you use it, you go temporarily blind…"

"That's correct." the bat said. His irises, which had disappeared when the fox had spoken, returned to view. It was clear now what this symbolised.

"HEY! ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT US OR WHAT?" Knuckles yelled through the megaphone.

Faust stuck his head out of the window, and looked Knuckles in the eye.

"And what do you intend to do to me…?" the bat asked, his voice deep and melodic.

"We're gonna kick your butt for taking our friends!" Sonic shouted, recovering from his KO'd state.

"They intend to hand me over to GUN. How inconvenient…" Faust murmured.

"What do we do?" Tails pondered, looking at the bat. He was just a little surprised when the bat jumped out of the window.

Faust looked at the echidna and the hedgehog. They were angry, but their intentions were justified to them. Faust could see all this, but he could also see that they weren't going to listen to anything he said. However, he should be able to beat some sense into them.

"You! You picked the wrong people to mess with!" Sonic shouted, jabbing his gloved finger in Faust's direction.

"I believe so. They're called GUN, and they want me dead." Faust said.

"I was talking about us!" Sonic shouted.

"Really…?" the bat scoffed. "You, hedgehog, don't look very dangerous."

Sonic glared. The bat merely drew his fist upwards, and secured the bandages a little more tightly.

"The truth is…I can take you out in one hit." the bat smirked.

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Second chapter of Faust's story done! Is Faust just being cocky, or does he have a plan? What are the bat's intentions, and just how dangerous is his strange ability to see the truth? And what's with Shadow? Coming up next time, in Chapter Three!

Vital Stats:

Word Count: 4067 (according to Microsoft Word, does not include formatting key)

Date first published: June 8th

Random Character Note: Faust's favourite biscuits are apparently Hobnobs Digestives. Go figure.

Note: Formatting key.

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The above is a change in scene. The old one didn't work. * sigh *

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The above is a chapter start/end/POV change break. You'll know which via context. It's not flashy, but I rather like it, myself.


	3. Chapter 3: Battles With A Bat

This is Faust chapter three, two days later than I would have given it to you due to time constraints. Either way, I'm about 50% done with Faust Chapter 6, and my writer's block is gradually loosening, so it should be good. The story has received positive reviews so far, and I'm very pleased with the reception. Thank you to all those that have reviewed!

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Chapter Three: Battles with a bat

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"The truth is…I can take you out in one hit."

Sonic felt the sneer in the words spoken by the dark young bat. The hedgehog knew exactly what those bandaged hands could do. Who could forget the sight of a 20-ton tank spiralling over the heads of the terrified GUN soldiers? Knuckles didn't seem to be bothered. He hadn't seen what that bat was capable of. The hedgehog tensed. If this bat was going to try and intimidate him, he'd have to do some scare tactics of his own!

They were at the top of the hill in Mystic Ruins, just down the slope from Tails' workshop. The rain had been reduced to a light drizzle. The bat faced the hedgehog and the echidna at the opposite end of the platform. Tails was leaning out of the window, watching anxiously. Faust hadn't even tried to convince them of his innocence. What exactly was going on in the bat's head? Amy had been received back into the house, promising to whack Faust for throwing her out in the first place. Cream's glove went to her mouth, as she chewed her knuckles anxiously. Knuckles himself sat down, understanding that this fight was between the hedgehog and the bat.

"So…are you going to attack me?" the bat asked, yawning slightly. He was still a little drowsy from the effects of the Heal Unit.

Suddenly, the hedgehog moved. Faust blinked, and Sonic was nose to nose with him.

"You really think you'll ever get to land a single hit on someone as fast as me?" the blue hero sneered, breathing into the bat's face. The ebony weapon's nose wrinkled in disgust, and his golden irises disappeared, making him look possessed.

"I shall grant that you have speed…but you also have terrible body odour." Faust retorted.

The blue hero snarled, throwing a punch at Faust. The bat dodged with a sidewards roll, jumping backwards onto his feet at the end. But Sonic was too fast, too angry, and he hurled himself towards the bat in a homing attack. Quickly, Faust took evasive action, beating his leathery wings and ascending sharply. The hedgehog hit the floor running, just avoiding Faust's speedy descent onto his head.

"You'll have to do better than that!" the hedgehog spat, racing towards the bat again.

Faust's vision snapped to white as the hedgehog spoke. He felt a titanic force hit his neck, and his body flew across the hill. As his vision returned, he saw the hedgehog perform the finishing motion of a sonic clothesline. Picking himself up, the bat grunted. He hadn't counted on his opponent mouthing off at him whilst he fought. He saw the hedgehog's mouth curl into a smile.

"Are you giving up, or am I just that good?" the blue hero taunted. Faust's vision went again. He needed a plan, and quick, or else he'd be back in the hands of GUN faster than he could say 'weapon'.

Then, it occurred to the bat. This hedgehog…in order to fight at such great speed, he'd need to…but…the question was, how would Faust trick his opponent into revealing it? A shot of pain went across the bat's mind, and he flinched. His brain…his heritage of being a military weapon. A complex formation of a normal brain and the government's technology, it held, among other things, a basic CPU. This acted as the bat's 'instincts'. It told him how to fight and with what strategies. And it had just told him how to beat that hedgehog.

"Hedgehog…what will you do next?" the bat quizzed.

"Why should I tell you?"

"Thanks." the bat smirked. An aura of confidence seemed to surround him, now that he was certain what he had to do. In this fight at least, the FAUST series of weapon would prove to be unstoppable.

For a second, the hedgehog looked confused, then hurled himself back into the fray. This time, the bat ducked the blow as if he'd known it was coming. Enraged, the hedgehog threw another, and another, but the bat weaved and dodged with ultimate ease. The bat's footwork was amazing. He seemed to move without moving his feet, dancing around the blows as if they were steps in an elegant waltz that he'd been practicing.

Faust moved backwards, learning all the time the true strength of his ability. His eyes were now glazed white, the bat's face screwed up in great concentration, trying to hold onto the power. He was seeing the truth of his own accord now- he couldn't stop it happening, but he could certainly force it on himself. The world was nothing more than a sterile white, all except for a spectral figure of a blue hedgehog. It disappeared and reappeared, flickering into vision as the hedgehog made his blows. Faust dodged them easily, with the power of foresight. As the hedgehog decided what moves to use, the bat saw them flicker into his mind, small scraps of the hero's intentions that were being kept secret…He dodged another punch, and another, until…

"You're almost out of stamina." the bat said, sidestepping another one of Sonic's punches easily.

"What? I'm just getting started!" the hedgehog shouted, hoping that the bat couldn't see his chest heaving as he gasped for breath.

"Wrong. I am the one who's just getting started." the bat whispered, running in close. His run was like that of Rouge- he seemed to move in a way that was like silk, flowing over the ground instead of standing on it. As he got close, the bat flapped his leathery wings and feinted a flying tackle at the hedgehog, pulling upwards at the last second. He arched backwards in the air, doing a full loop, before coming to a hovering halt across the platform. Unlike Rouge, he was able to keep aloft for as long as he wanted to, due to his incredible lightness.

Sonic groaned. With the bat now on the wing, it was going to be harder to keep track of him. The hedgehog knew that if he didn't keep his emerald greens on that bat, he'd be getting a face full of fist.

Faust, seeing the hedgehog's momentary lapse, took his opportunity. He flew forwards, banking to one side so that the tip of his wing almost touched the ground. He flew in close and fast, like a jet fighter, almost clipping the hedgehog's spines as he passed. He rose sharply, turned, and wheeled in the air, before taking another low glide. This time, though, the hedgehog took the bait.

As the bat passed, the hedgehog leapt into the air in a spinball. Faust's unseeing white eyes snapped back to gold as the hedgehog flew towards him at high velocity. The bat turned sharply, and felt the whiz of hedgehog's spines grasping empty air near his face. He waited another moment, and then…SMASH! The bat executed a perfect midair backhanded punch, spiking the hedgehog like a volleyball. Upon impact, the bat's bandaged hands glowed a muffled blue. There was a small PSSSSH sound, like a bottle fizzing over after being shaken, and suddenly the hedgehog had flown off the edge of the cliff and into the sea.

Faust landed gracefully. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tails and Cream fly out of the house. For a second, the bat was surprised to see that they could fly at all. As the two disappeared over the edge of the cliff, doubtlessly to ensure that the blue hedgehog didn't drown to death, the dark bat turned to his next opponent.

"So…You took him out with one shot, like you said you would. I'm impressed." Knuckles shouted across the platform to the bat. Faust moved his head in acknowledgement.

"But, I'm betting that you won't find me such an easy mark!" the echidna shouted, crashing his great fists together.

Faust stayed silent. If he was honest, he was past his best. The dodging, the gliding, the blindness…They had all taken their toll on his body and mind. Not quite so much of a toll, however, as that clothesline the hedgehog had landed on him. The bat's ribs were damaged, and every breath he took caused him pain. His legs shook, and his wings were already tired. The heal unit had still left him with a sizable amount of damage, it seemed.

"So! How many hits do you give me?" the echidna bellowed.

Faust stayed silent. His eyes had shot to white again. He couldn't see his opponent…and he couldn't rely on tricking the echidna into revealing his next moves by accident. Besides, Knuckles didn't exactly strike Faust as a master strategist. He looked like the kind of person who went on instinct- so even he didn't know his next move.

"Does that mean that you think you're going to lose?" Knuckles taunted.

"Losing is a distinct possibility in this scenario. However, my chances of winning are still higher than my chances of losing." the bat said, keeping his face emotionless.

"Is that so? I beg to differ!" Knuckles shouted, rushing forwards.

The red warrior let a battle cry escape from his lips as he charged forwards. Knuckles moved in a way completely different from Sonic. He wasn't nearly as fast, but the way he ran was simply unstoppable, like a bull. The bat's blind eyes didn't see it though. He couldn't see anything- not even in that cold, white space where only the truth could be seen. Knuckles drew ever closer, and yet the bat didn't move a single muscle. He stood stock still as the echidna reached him. He stood still as the echidna drew back his fist. But he sure went flying when it hit.

The bat felt the back of his head smash against rock. He must have fallen at the stairs that led up to Tails' house. He tried to raise himself to his feet, but as soon as he lifted his head, another titanic blow smashed into it. Faust wasn't blind anymore, because Knuckles' war cry had ended, but all he could see at the moment were stars.

The red echidna grunted. Where had the bat's fight gone? It enraged and confused him in equal measure. Grudgingly, he stepped back to allow his opponent to get to his feet. The bat raised his head again, fixing his golden eyes upon the echidna's face. Then, planting his hands on the floor, the bat swung his legs around like a pendulum, taking the echidna's legs out from under him.

Taking the opportunity, Faust scrambled to his feet, and spread his wings. Taking to the air, the bat focused his attention on the crimson warrior. He soared high above the hill, feeling the light rain patter on his wings. Making a split second decision, he came in low for a flying tackle. The echidna was ready for him though. Planting his claws into the ground, the red warrior levered up a huge chunk of rock, and prepared to throw it at the dark weapon's silhouette in the rain.

As Knuckles let his missile fly, the bat cut his flight and fell into a roll, dodging narrowly under the massive rock. Knuckles started, and tried to leap to the side, but it was too late. The bat ended the roll with a jump upwards, catching Knuckles in a vicious uppercut. The echidna flew twenty, maybe even thirty feet up into the air. A faint trail of blue energy hung in the air that the bat's fist had passed through, then dissipated.

Taking swiftly to the air, the ebony weapon caught the echidna as he as falling. Tossing him back up into the air, the raven bat began to juggle him with those incredible punches. He knocked the echidna far and wide in the air, but always flew fast enough to intercept him for the next punch. Each time the bat swung his fist, a faint streak of blue told where his fist had been, highlighted against the dark clouds. Swinging again and again, Faust kept the echidna disorientated and confused. As he headed off Knuckle's flight path for the last time, the bat turned and did a mid-air backwards 360 degree flip, smashing the echidna upwards with his foot. Flying upwards at a speed that rivalled the Tornado's jump jets, he flew so that he was above Knuckles, ready for the deathblow.

For a second, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The echidna opened one eye, and saw a snarl adorning the bat's face. Then, a pair of bandaged fists connected with the echidna's head. There was a sudden change of direction, and suddenly the echidna was flying towards the ground far too fast to catch himself. He saw the wet earth racing up to meet him. It was getting closer and closer. He really had to think of a -CRASH.

The bat looked on from overhead. He was searching for some clue to what had happened to the stubborn warrior. As the dust cleared, Faust found himself stifling a chuckle. There was an echidna shaped hole in the ground where Knuckles had hit. It was like something out of a cartoon. Faust smiled, and landed gracefully on the hill a few metres from where the Knuckles-mark was. He looked over to see a sodden Tails and a drenched Cream carrying a soaking Sonic the last few feet up the cliff. Absently, he wondered if he should help. His ability to see the truth also encompassed the ability to see hidden intentions- and this ability showed that the two heroes, although misguided, were only acting as they thought was right. There was an anticlimactic silence upon the hill, but Faust was too lost in though to notice.

The ability to see intentions had, in fact, been how he had been able to beat the hedgehog in the first place, the bat mused to himself. To fight at the incredible speed that Sonic did, the hedgehog needed to know what he would do several moves in advance. By planning his moves out and then letting them show in his intentions, the hedgehog had sealed his own downfall. There was a small scuttling sound from the earth, as if something were moving below it. Faust looked down in annoyance. Bad move.

The echidna burst through the earth with astounding power, bringing his clawed fist up first. It connected with the bat's face, sending the weapon flying once more, only to land on the ground five feet away. Knuckles brushed the dirt off himself and smirked.

"You didn't really think that such a pathetic assault would finish me, did you?" he asked, his violet eyes aflame with battle-fury.

"Well, I was rather hoping…" the ebony bat said weakly. A trickle of blood ran down from the corner of his mouth. Dammit all, the bat thought. I'm not built for combat. That was the other series' specification…

"Well? I hope you've got more fight in you than that!" the echidna shouted, charging forwards for another assault. Faust tried to move, but his legs seemed to have turned to jelly. The red warrior was incensed now, and wasn't pulling his punches- punches that could kill if they were met with no defence. And Faust didn't have a defence to muster. His eyes dilated as the echidna drew closer and closer. As his heart pounded, the world seemed to go in and out of focus, and he couldn't hear anything other than the echidna's footsteps on the damp earth. He took one last look at his assailant, then closed his eyes and braced for the impact that he feared would bring a premature end to his short life in this world…

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

Faust opened one golden eye, and saw the echidna fall to the ground, lacerated by the powerful ochre-coloured energy. He saw the silhouetted form of an ebony hedgehog appear at the crest of the hill, followed shortly after by a bat who was rather out of breath.

"You…speak, weapon. Are you Project 78..Codename FAUST?" the raven hedgehog asked commandingly.

"Indeed I am. Who might you be?" the bat said, his smile hidden, as always, by his sweater.

"I am Shadow…Shadow the hedgehog."

The bat's white eyes snapped to gold, before dilating rapidly. This was THE Shadow the hedgehog?

"Hmm…do you have something you want to say…?" the ultimate life form asked, a hint of menace etched into his dusky voice.

"Oh…it's nothing. I just thought that you'd be taller." the bat said. With that, he collapsed.

Shadow looked at the bat on the ground with narrowed eyes. He considered shooting him- ending it there and then. But the ebony being's secret desire to finally meet someone who was the same as he was…he couldn't do it. Motioning to Rouge, he picked up the bat's unconscious body, hefting him easily over one shoulder.

"Well, Master Prower? You bring in Sonic…I want to have a word with this…bat." Shadow said.

Tails did as he was commanded, picking up Sonic and following after the sinister black form of the hedgehog. Cream was a little miffed at not being noticed, but she followed anyway.

Faust's eyelids flickered gently, and a small murmur escaped his hidden lips.

"Karst…"

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Word Count: 2971 (according to Microsoft Word)

Date First Published: July 21st

Random Character Note: Karst- a mystery to be revealed later. Friend or foe?


	4. Chapter 4: Revelations In Daylight

Been away for a week. Just posting this up now, and I'll be back on fully (answering reviews, reviewing, reading, catching up and whatnot) tomorrow. Sorry about that.

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Chapter Four: Revelations in daylight

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_Faust groaned. The rattle of guns filled his head, and at least a hundred little bullets thudded into him. To his surprise, he wasn't ripped the shreds. Each bullet hit him with no more force than a pebble against a window. But they were still bullets. And they still set his body alight with pain. Faust slowly drew his head upwards, fixing Dr. Goriah with a venomous stare. His golden eyes committed each line, each wrinkle, each feature of the man's morbid face into his memory. He would pay. Maybe not now, but one day. This man would pay. The soldiers looked on. They didn't understand. They didn't know what to do. _

_"Faust. I'm afraid that this is the end for you." Goriah said in a tone that was almost bored. The good doctor removed a pistol from his lab coat. He took his time aiming._

_"I don't think that's the truth." Faust said, almost smiling._

_"Oh. Pardon me. You'll scream a little, and THEN it'll be the end for you." Goriah smirked._

_Slowly, the doctor squeezed the trigger. An exultant smile graced the doctor's face as the gun bucked in his hand. Faust flinched. He could almost see the bullet rotating in the air…as it missed him almost entirely, hitting on of his restraints. It shattered, already having received some damage from the earlier barrage. With his arms free, the bat quickly squirmed out of his confines. The soldiers fumbled as they tried to reload their guns. Faust did a back flip, arcing gracefully through the air, landing behind his former prison, the box that had contained him. _

_Drawing back a naked fist, he felt the energy dormant within him exploding in his hand. As soon as his hand connected with the box, it was sent soaring across the room. There was terror in the soldiers' eyes as they saw it approaching. They had no escape. It ploughed into the battalion, trapping the men underneath it. _

_"I don't think I shall stay for tea, doctor. I'm in a hurry to explore this world you've brought me into." the bat smirked, walking to the soldiers. He bent down, watched by the incredulous Goriah and the furious Oswin. When he stood back up, he was holding a grenade. _

He smirked, playfully tossing the grenade in one hand and catching it again. The whole room had frozen. He walked slowly, almost strutted, to the centre of the room. He pulled the pin out slowly and threw the grenade high into the air. Feeling the energy blaze from his fist again, he flew up and smashed the grenade down. It soared almost faster than the human eye could see before crashing into the wall so hard it became embedded. Instantly, every living thing took cover. A massive blast shook the room. A few seconds later, Faust walked through the hole where the wall used to be, smirked, and ran further into the base.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"For the last time, rabbit…yes. He's a weapon, just like me. He has to have some degree of durability."

"But Shadow…what if he were designed to be expendable? What then?"

"Tails, don't say that!"

"Sonic, I'm only being practical."

"You're upsetting Cream!"

"Actually, it looks like the only person I'm upsetting is you."

"You two, stop fighting!"

"Shuttup, Amy!"

"Shuttup, Amy!"

Faust finally opened his eyes, his world swaying into vision. He still remembered his vivid dream- the dream that should have been his own execution. The bed he was sitting on was comfy- feather down, probably. And it was orange. Another strange feature. It was nothing like the only other resting place he'd ever known, the bat thought hazily. His eyes roamed, around the room. He saw Tails looking at him, in a concerned but always scientific manner. Sonic and Amy, bickering as usual. Knuckles, silent in the corner. Vanilla and Cream, looking worried. The female bat was nowhere to be seen. And then, Faust did the thing he had been avoiding, and turned his gaze upwards. Shadow looked down at him, with a look stranded somewhere between relief and contempt filling his red eyes. There was a brief pause as the two weapons looked into each other's eyes and took their measures.

"So. You are Project 78, Codename FAUST. I had expected something…more." the ebony hedgehog said. From his voice, the contempt seemed to have won out over the relief.

Faust kept staring at him, with his golden eyes- which remained golden. They dilated in shock as the bat realised what was wrong.

"I should be blind when you talk. I can still see. Explain." the bat mouthed, his speech clipped and urgent.

Shadow took his time in answering. He deliberated, watching the bat's face all the time- testing him. Faust bit his tongue, and waited. He didn't exactly want the ultimate life form on his enemies list.

"I have no idea." the dark hedgehog shrugged. Faust scowled. "Although…Perhaps it's because I, too, was manufactured rather than born. My mind was not simply made, it was designed. Perhaps it simply runs differently than other minds."

"You know how my power works, then?"

"I have some idea."

"Pfft." the bat snorted, forgetting all pretences of being polite. "The fools who created me only knew a fraction of how my powers work. I am, after all, an i experimental /i weapon."

"So, the file didn't contain the correct answers?" Shadow asked, playing his trump card.

For a second, Faust didn't speak, his mind racing. Depending on the file that he'd read, Shadow would either know the intricate workings of his biomechanics, or the summary of his abilities and product cycle. Either was dangerous. Either could be used to pick holes in the bat's already fragile defence. And both were in the hands of the Government, the bat thought with a wince.

The others (apart from Amy, who was arguing in Sonic's ear) looked on in concern. The exchange had been razor sharp, the two weapons playing games the others clearly didn't know the rules to. Tails, however, looked on with his clear blue eyes with scientific calmness and palpable focus.

"No. The information was only correct in the same way that pi is correct if you round it to a single decimal point. Everything under the surface is unknown." the bat shrugged, trying to play things down. His neck was stiff. He hadn't been able to look away from the hedgehog's fiery eyes during the interrogation.

"I see." Shadow said. With that, the hedgehog about turned and walked away. The muscles in Faust's neck screamed exultantly as he finally sat up. And was forced straight back down again by a pair of white gloved hands. Tails held his arm on the bat's chest, pinning him easily. Faust struggled, but to no avail. He didn't really want to harm the fox with his kinetic punches, but he was physically too weak to push even the mild mannered genius off him.

"Uhn-uh. You're staying right there. We need to run a medical exam on you." the fox's quiet voice rang.

"Hmph. And what good, pray tell, do you think that would do?" Faust sneered.

Tails stopped for a second. "I don't know."

"And why didn't you just do it whilst I was asleep?" the bat said, rattling off another question.

"We…took X-rays. But they came out…weird." Tails admitted. "They were all clogged up. There were things that looked like bones in places, but they were covered in stuff and…we thought that it would be best to consult you."

"Hmph. I'm running a full system diagnostic now." the bat said. He saw validity in every word the fox spoke. It was welcome, familiar. Talking to Shadow was unsettling. For someone who had no experience being lied to, not knowing if the words were the truth was in the words or not was an ordeal. On reflection, he actually preferred the blindness to the deception.

"Full system diagnostic?" Tails began to ask, but Faust waved a hand for quiet. A few long minutes passed, marked only by the ticking of a clock somewhere in the room. The room they were in was rather too orange in truth. Orange and metallic. The mix didn't go well. It was evidently Tails' bedroom.

"Nothing's wrong in internally. Externally the damage is minor." Faust said. Knuckles grunted somewhere in the background

"What do you mean, full system diagnostic?" Tails asked, his mind racing.

"I'm not very…_organic_. Most of my body is full of circuitry, which works along with my original body to keep my powers going, and also to keep me alive. I'm what you might call the world's most powerful computer."

"So, you're….really smart?" Tails quizzed, a slight tang of jealousy lifting the fox's voice.

"No. All the processing power is for use in battle. An educated weapon is a useless one, because it will eventually turn against its masters." Faust said coldly. He looked at Shadow. Shadow looked back defiantly, as if he were denying an unanswered question. No one spoke for a minute.

"Well…at any rate, the circuitry is fine." Faust looked around again. "You've been quiet."

It was a statement, but also a challenge. A challenge directed squarely at Sonic the hedgehog. The atmosphere in the room changed completely. It was now tense, as Sonic friends either looked at him wonderingly or prepared to jump to his aid. The blue hedgehog looked at the bat, and, for once in his life, looked almost sheepish as he opened his mouth.

"I thought you had taken my friends hostage." the hedgehog muttered. Faust's eyes flashed to white again, and remained there.

"Yes you did. That isn't the only reason." the bat accused.

"It's the main one." A quiver crept into the hero's voice .

"The secondary reason being that it's been peaceful lately. In truth, you've been itching for a fight." The bat spoke with a certain level of disgust. A certain level of contempt. A certain level of accusation.

"…yeah…b-but, I'm a hero! I have to keep in practice!" The hero was flustered now. His words came out quickly, tripping on the tip of his tongue.

"There are other ways to keep in practice. I suppose it's lucky for you I came along. You were going to pick a fight with Knuckles if I hadn't." the bat smirked.

"There's no reason to tell them that!" the hedgehog all but yelled.

"Perhaps they deserve to know. Maybe it's because I see the truth, but I hate being lied to." the bat whispered in contrast, a hiss contorting his voice.

"That's enough." Shadow hissed, stepping forward again. A silence pervaded the room as the atmosphere gently simmered back down. The ebony hedgehog's flaming eyes locked with Sonic's emerald greens. They weren't impressed.

For a moment, Faust pondered his situation. He had nowhere to go. They could turn him in at any time. They'd attacked him and damaged him, but also sheltered and healed him. He wondered, gravely, how he was supposed to deal with such a misfit group. He closed his eyes to concentrate, and found himself slipping once again into slumber.

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The day had well and truly broken now, the mid afternoon sun shining half-heartedly on the ground, which was still moist from yesterday's showers. Faust stepped outside gingerly. He marvelled at the sunlight, although there wasn't much of it. He briefly looked through the experiences that had made up his life.

He'd broken out from 'home' around two days ago. Then, he'd dragged his broken body through the city to the train. There had been that old woman…Perhaps if he met her again, he'd thank her for her concern. Then he'd rode that great metal entity to Mystic Ruins, where he'd collapsed on Tails' doorstep, and met Tails and Cream…

He'd been punched by Cream, told Tails his secret…watched the fox's reaction when he realised he'd been hacked. The bat smiled at the memory. Then, he'd met Amy and Cream's mother…been challenged by Sonic and Knuckles. Won one fight, and was about to lose the other…and then Shadow…

He'd slept an entire day, they'd told him. The other bat had left…the thought bothered Faust. He might have to track her down and…keep her silent. He didn't like to behave like the way he was…Shadow bothered him too. The way that the hedgehog was able to deceive him if he wanted to…And his power as the ultimate life form…Danger signals rang in Faust's mind. Not like he wasn't in enough danger already…

Sonic's conversation with the president had been repeated to the bat by the shamed hedgehog. Instantly, Faust realised its import. The government knew where he was. They'd not been afraid that Sonic would check Tails' lab (the fox was a recluse, almost. He barely ever went out, apart from to fly his plane. By and large, he ordered what chemicals he needed from the internet, and sold of inventions there too.), or Cream's house, to find the truth. They'd know he was at Tails' house, because they knew that was where Sonic would check.

Secondly, they wanted him taken out. They'd revealed him to the public as well. Sent the public's greatest hero after him. They were painting him as the bad guy, the out of control enemy of GUN that took hostages and destroyed tanks for no reason other than malice. They knew that Faust, alone, could never have beaten Sonic and Knuckles. So, by the fact that the bat was still alive, they knew the Sonic Team were protecting him. If they were harmed, the public outcry would be massive. So the next attempt would be by stealth.

The contents of Faust's own brain were also cause for concern. There had been a specific, pre-programmed strategy in there to beat Sonic. Why would that be there? Tails had provided the answer quickly, his logical mind removing the barriers no one else wanted to think about. GUN had always meant for Faust to face Sonic. They had always meant for him to beat the hedgehog. Sonic, and possibly the rest of the team, were targets. Eventually, GUN would try to destroy them too.

Shadow had been the only one not surprised. He'd been on GUN's blacklist before. Now was merely a small period of peace for him. Until the next assault. The government's motives for wanting the rest of the Sonic Team wiped out were obscure, though…Neither Tails nor Shadow could provide an answer. A deep suspicion nagged in the back of Faust's head, but of what? It was too slippery…like an eel. He just couldn't grasp it.

"Faust? What's going on in that skull of yours?" Cream asked, snapping Faust from his reverie.

"Merely how different things look in sunlight." the bat replied, turning again to look out at the bay. He'd been sitting on the end of Tails' runway. He swung his legs gently, not understanding the motion but somehow realising it was necessary.

"Hmm. Haven't you seen things in sunlight before?" the rabbit asked, sitting down a few feet to the right of him, and swinging her legs too. "That's pretty sad…I feel sorry for you."

"Hmph…If you feel sorry for me, then please remain quiet for a few minutes so I can enjoy the view. I'd like to appreciate it whilst I can." the bat said darkly.

"The sun will come out again, you know!" Cream laughed. The sound was like the tinkling of bells.

"But will I be alive to see it?" Faust asked, turning to her. When his sight returned, he saw the look on her face and grimaced. He hadn't meant to be so harsh. He could see the tears welling up now.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that my life won't be as long as a usual person's. I'd like to enjoy the time I have." the bat said in apology.

"How do you know that your life will be shorter than usual? You might not be killed. We might be able to smooth all this out."

"Cream." the bat said, a solemn air filling his voice. "I cannot lie. What would be my use in obtaining information for my masters if I could just lie about it afterwards?"

For a second, the atmosphere was tense. A wrinkle creased the bat's forehead. There were no others. Not a hint of acne, not a single hair that was untrimmed. Faust was, by normal standards, spectacularly handsome. His face was unblemished, his golden eyes entrancing. When asked, he simply said, "My face is fairly new. Of course it's in better condition that yours is."

"Hmm. So. You can't lie, can you?" Cream asked after a while, her eyebrow rising, and a smirk alighting on her face. It was mischievous, like that of an elf. It suited her.

"No. Not a single word I know to be false can cross my lips." the bat answered. A grave and solemn look crossed his face again.

"Can you prove that?" Cream asked, her smirk deepening.

"Prove it?" the bat asked, surprised. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well…I want to know how a certain person feels about another certain person…Would you be able to get that information for me?" she asked, a small blush crossing her cheeks at the thought.

Faust looked at her. She wasn't joking. But it seemed out of character for the gentle rabbit, even to someone who hadn't known her long.

"I would be able to. Why?" the bat asked, a suspicious note bleeding into his normal dusky whisper.

"Will you?" the rabbit asked, not looking at him. Faust's observant eyes caught her fingers crossing themselves.

"It depends. Whom and whom?"

The door of Tails' workshop clattered. Neither one looked, but both noticed. It was probably Tails, Sonic or Shadow, coming to look for them. Apart from Faust, who'd stepped out in case the government knew more than just where he was, Cream, who had joined him afterwards, and Amy, who went to shop for food, all of the others were engaged in a planning meeting. To decide what to do about Faust.

"Listen, can we talk about this later? In private?" Cream asked, her voice low and urgent.

"Where?"

"My house. At midnight. We'll be safe there." she said. Faust didn't like the way she said 'we'. Like they were partners in crime or something. It irritated him somewhat. She passed him a map with her house marked on it. Once again, the bat didn't like how she'd thought of this in advance. It rang alarm bells in his head. But for some reason, he didn't ask her what it was about, even though he could have found out the truth if he did. It was entertaining to ponder the thought,

"I'll be there." he confirmed in his dusky whisper, folding the map quickly and putting it into one of his pockets. He spoke lowly because his large yet delicate ears could hear footsteps approaching.

"So there you are. Did you get a good look at the world, weapon?"

"Good enough. So, what is our next move?" Faust responded, not even turning to look at the ultimate life form.

"We're going to test them. We want to see how exact their knowledge of where you are is, and also how great their resolve is." Shadow responded, a small air of satisfaction pervading the words. Plainly, he'd been the one who suggested the plan. After all, the ebony hedgehog also had use for the knowledge himself- to use against GUN the next time they clashed.

"How…interesting." the bat mused.

"Well…You'd better follow me. We have to 'prepare' you for the big city." the hedgehog said with a snicker.

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I'm dropping the 'first published on…' field, simply because I'm bored of it. Random whims, yes. And I'm adding a random note about the process of writing the story/a comment on the chapter itself.

Word Count: 3,432

Random Character Note: Dr. Goriah. A seemingly minor character- but…

Random Writing Note: This is a slow burning chapter in what is, essentially, an action-drama story. (Yes, there WILL be more battle scenes. A lot more. And more drama. Basically, it'll be a fairly long story.) Either way, it does contain some important points- I particularly like the 'jousting' between Faust and Shadow.


	5. Chapter 5: Bat in the big city

This is a lighter chapter…just read it! (Poor Faust…)

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Chapter Five: Bat in the big city

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"This is sick and wrong. I've only been alive two days, and I already know that this is sick and wrong." Faust's harsh whisper floated through the door.

"Funny, though." Sonic muttered under his breath.

"Seriously…I may or may not kill the person who came up with this." Faust hissed.

"The creators of this plan would be Amy and I. And I suspect that you won't want to fight either of us." Shadow smirked. Tails had been there about half an hour earlier telling Faust of Amy's exploits.

There came the sound of Faust hissing insults to himself. It was thoroughly hilarious to hear him roundly cursing Shadow, Amy, GUN and everything in between with his angry whispers. Eventually, the sound was replaced by confused (and sometimes pained) grunting. Cream covered her ears. She was here for support, but she didn't really want to hear what the bat was saying. He wasn't swearing, but it was rude enough. The bat couldn't actually swear, as he had explained.

All the words he knew were actually pre-programmed into the circuitry in his brain. As Tails understood it (no one else had even the faintest idea what the bat was talking about) there was a small dictionary file that was located just above the language centre of his organic brain. That held all of his words. However, to save space, headaches and lag (Faust's brain would occasionally lag when the inorganic parts were used, just like any computer) it had only been programmed with the bare necessities. And swearing wasn't necessary for a stealth weapon.

Eventually, the sounds stopped completely. After a few minutes more, the door opened a crack. The bat hesitated, then pushed it open. And was met by the loudest and longest spell of laughter he'd ever heard in his short life.

"Sick and wrong." the bat muttered again.

After she had regained control of her titters (even the polite rabbit couldn't resist) Cream appraised her and Amy's work. They'd been out and gotten the stuff especially, and she was proud of the effect. After all, to be fair, the bat wasn't bad.

Not for a military weapon dressed in drag, anyway.

"I've decided. I don't care, I am going to kill someone." the bat growled, the words hanging in the air longer than normal.

He was wearing a pair of faded bellbottoms that complimented the bat's thin, but well shaped legs. Biker chick boots for his feet, as shiny and black as his old jackboots- just more feminine. A carefully chosen red sweater highlighted his waist and 'breasts', which were really tennis balls shoved into a bra. Cream hadn't thought they'd look as natural as they did, considering that, even through his jacket and sweater, he obviously had a reasonably muscular and masculine chest. Tails had graciously provided some of his old gloves to cover the bat's bandaged hands, which didn't exactly look feminine on their own. A white scarf was wrapped slightly higher than it would usually be, so it covered the bat's mouth. To complete it all, he had a pair of large, round, black glasses that both hid his golden eyes and would give him an excuse for behaving like he was blind in the noisy city. The only thing wrong was his shock of messy grey hair.

"Here. This should suit you pretty well, Ms. Faust." Amy giggled, placing a surprisingly natural looking blonde wig onto his head. She heard a barely concealed growl echo in his chest when she said 'Ms. Faust.'

"One question." the bat snarled.

"One, and one only."

"Did you really have to provide more suitable underpants for me?" the bat growled.

There was a fresh bout of laughter as Sonic and Shadow realised the meticulousness of the image Amy and Cream had created. Faust muttered something very quiet and very rude towards them, and then waited for his answer.

"Well…" Cream began, picking her words carefully, "Those jeans, you realise, were made to ride down…"

"What?" the bat hissed, his anger searing now.

"It's the fashion." Amy piped in, unabashed. "And besides, you might attract some male attention. I mean, let's be honest, you've got a pretty good backside for a man or a woman, and I thought that we should show it off."

"Say one more word, and I swear I'm going to throw you off the cliff." the bat hissed among peals of laughter.

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"Speak higher, Ms. Faust."

"Like this?"

There was no difference. Faust's voice remained its usual dusky whisper. His voice was nothing close to a woman's. They'd made him look like a woman, and to a certain extent (and with heavy protests from Faust himself) they'd managed to make him move like a woman. But making him sound like a woman was going to be more of a challenge. Luckily, Tails came prepared.

"Here. Put this in your mouth." the fox had said, handing him a tiny box.

"Why?" the bat asked, one eyebrow rising.

"You'll see."

The bat put it in, holding it in place with his tongue. It wasn't painful or stressful, but it felt a little weird. He didn't like it.

"Tails, this- Wait, is that my voice?" the bat asked in astonishment. The fox gave a crooked grin.

"Nope. That's a voice changer. By speaking through it, it alters the pitch of your voice. That one's set to the voice frequencies of the President's aide." the fox grinned. He was plainly proud of his work.

"Hmph. Why would you need something like this? And how were you able to gather vocal data from the president's aide?" the bat asked, his new voice still sounding calm and cool even though he was suspicious.

"Eheheh. Passing crush." the fox blushed, a bead of sweat dripping from his brow.

The bat smiled. There was a certain sense of comradeship between the weapon and the scientist. They both had a certain analytical edge to their mind, a certain cutting logic that they shared. The fox knew when the bat was smiling by his eyes. It was something of a glow, a small lightness to either the golden eyes or the white space that was almost unnoticeable- except to the observant fox. Faust's black glasses lay on the side at Tails' request. Just like the fox, the bat could tell how his counterpart was feeling easily. Even after such a short time, the two felt like they were looking into a mirror when they saw each other. Except that on one side of the mirror, the bulb had blown and plunged everything into shadows.

"Wow…I think he's ready. Not bad, Ms. Faust." Knuckles guffawed, walking into the room. Faust's fists clenched into balls and then opened again. He didn't say anything.

"Hmm…Aside from the rudeness, I think he's right. You're pulling off the illusion, Faust." Tails affirmed. The bat looked somewhat mollified. "I think it's about time you got out on the town."

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The hands of the clock showed three thirty in the afternoon as the newly blonde bat walked out into the sun. The others (sans Vanilla, who had decided to clean Tails' workshop for him) were waiting at the train station, whilst Faust and Tails had rehearsed walking one last time. They walked down together to the train station, the bat showing his newly acquired feminine grace. As he rounded the last flight of the wooden stairs to the platform, the bat's eyes locked with an unfamiliar face.

"You're that bat." he said, pointing at her. It wasn't exactly an accusation, but it sounded like it.

Rouge scrutinised his face with a slightly incredulous look on her face. She looked him up and down for several minutes, taking in the illusory curves. She took in the blonde, shoulder length hair,

"Your breasts…they aren't natural, are they? Come on, we're both gals here. You can tell me." Rouge asked, her sly voice tinkling. A collective sigh went through the others.

"Are yours?" the bat asked in response. The group froze again.

"Of course."

"Liar. Even I don't have that much silicon in me, and I'm full of microchips."

Almost one-and-a-half seconds later, the bat hit the deck, taken down by a vicious kick. Rouge was practically breathing fire as the others stopped her from giving him a few more choice blows. It took Sonic, Shadow and Amy's combined force to hold her back- Knuckles probably could have stopped her himself, but he was too incapacitated with laughter. Tails groaned, whilst Cream looked at her mother with an arched eyebrow.

"Of all the questions he could possibly have asked…" Tails sighed, picking up the KO'd bat with his tails. Faust was, as always, feather light.

"He's not exactly tactful, is he?" Cream said, standing at the fox's side.

"Nope. But there again, neither was Rouge."

Shadow, Sonic and Amy struggled for a good 5 minutes as Rouge tried to pull free to pound Faust and Knuckles tried not to suffocate from laughter. Eventually, all things calmed down, but Faust was still out like a light. There was an almost peaceful look on his (still unmarked) face. It was strange to think how very fragile he was- the government weapon who couldn't take a punch. It reminded Tails somewhat of his own spyflys. Once again, the thought crossed his mind that Faust might have been disposable. It didn't seem unreasonable- considering the battle robos the government used normally, he seemed almost useless at combat.

"Tails? What are you thinking about?" Cream asked, touching him lightly on the forearm. A blush spread across Tails' face. Actually, he couldn't remember now.

"Err…About…um…what was it…flowers?" Tails stuttered.

"Why? I thought you didn't like flowers."

"Huh? I don't? Why?"

"Ahaha. You're so funny, Tails!" Cream laughed, the tinkling sound filling the kitsune's mind. Tails looked away, not wanting to think about the blush that was burning through his cheeks.

"So! It belongs to you then, fox-boy?" Rouge asked angrily.

"Belongs? Faust is our friend."

"It's a weapon. It has to belong to someone." Rouge said dismissively. Shadow's eyes smouldered.

"He used to belong to the government. Now he's free." Tails said angrily, almost forgetting that he had the bat wrapped in his tails.

"The government? You mean my bosses?"

Suddenly, everyone looked at Rouge. They all had the same look in their eyes- the look of a great idea.

"Hmm? Oh, wait. Wait, wait, wait. You're kidding me. You want ME to spy for HIM?" the thief shouted, outraged.

"It's a good idea…ally. And anyway…you have no choice in the matter." Shadow muttered. His voice was almost as much a dusky whisper as Faust's.

"And why not?" Rouge asked angrily, cocking her leg back for another kick.

"Because. Soon, the government will ask you your position on this matter. If you don't agree to spy for us, we will reveal that you're on our side. They'll put you in prison. Or chase you from the country. And this country has the best gems of all the continents." Shadow said effortlessly.

"There are other gems…they're just not as pretty." Rouge sniffed.

Shadow sniffed. It was about time to change tact, he reckoned.

"Not deserving, surely, of the world's best and most beautiful thief." Shadow purred, his voice dropping low and seductive.

"When did he learn to do that?" Knuckles grumbled under his breath.

"Beats me." Sonic whispered in reply.

Amy swooned.

"Shadow…what do you think you're doing?" Rouge asked huffily.

"Hmm? What, you don't think you're beautiful? I do. Very much so." the ultimate life form purred again, his dark voice echoing around the thief's huge ears.

"Gah…Fine, I'll do it! Just cut it out already! You're creeping me out." Rouge sighed, shaking her head.

"Thank you…ally." Shadow whispered, slipping seamlessly back into his normal moody persona.

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Oswin sweated as he jabbed the doorbell to Goriah's quarters. The heating was turned way up, despite it being warm outside already. It was also quite humid- Oswin was reminded of the tank he had prepared for his pet snake as a child. Eventually, the door opened with a slight pssh of smoke, and Goriah was there, hunched over as always, his sharp nose turned up.

"Do you have some kind of problem I can help you with?" the doctor hissed.

"We both have a problem. The President wants to know why your little toy failed." Oswin hissed back, careful to keep his voice low. Even now, the consummate GUN general cared too much for his reputation.

"My toy? My toy? The Faust series are not toys! They are the closest thing to the realisation of my dream, you arrogant fool!" Goriah exploded, not caring who heard. He was already viewed as the weirdest man in the military, so it didn't really matter to him.

"Dream? Pah. What kind of dream could those things achieve? They're little more than living dolls." Oswin smirked.

"And furthermore-" Goriah carried on, ignoring Oswin, "FAUST 24 was NOT a failure. It was, in fact, a great success!"

"What on earth are you blabbering on about?"

"Well, on one hand…we can use his escape to gather data to build even better FAUST models. But on the other hand….hehehe." the doctor broke off into a manic little giggle.

"….what? What on earth are you talking about?"

"He is the closest to perfection. His mind is the closest to the original." Goriah muttered, suddenly going quite.

For a few minutes, the men stood in silence. A harsh, industrial sound echoed behind them. Oswin could taste the metal in the air almost as much as he could smell it. It was a sharp rasping, cold kind of taste. A bead of sweat slowly crept down his brow as he stared at the good doctor.

"So, the President wants to know why my weapon is thinking for itself?"

"Pretty much."

"Heh. Tell him to let it alone for a while so we can collect data. After a while, we'll dispose of it." the doctor said, sadness tinting his voice. It didn't suit him.

"You're not going to tell him yourself?"

But the doctor had already closed the door.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Okay, weapon. Remember. You are a woman, and you will act like one." Shadow hissed into the bat's huge ear.

"At least for me, this is a one off." Faust hissed back.

After an hour or two of unconsciousness, Faust had woken up, and thankfully looked no worse for wear. Apart from a few shifty looks at Rouge, he'd resumed business as normal, and now he, Sonic, Tails, Amy and Cream were getting on the train for Station Square. Shadow and Rouge were going to take a later train to Emerald Town to do more planning from Rouge's Club, and to re-examine Faust's file for clues.

"Hmm…I can't help think that there's something we're forgetting. Someone we should be taking account of…" Tails mumbled to himself as they sat down.

"Oh, hush Tails. You've done the best you can, and you deserve a little R & R. That's why we insisted we could take you with us." Amy smiled, her hands tightened like iron shackles on Sonic's arms.

"But I haven't done anything! I should be helping Shadow and Rouge look around the programming on that laptop! And how is this R & R?" Tails moaned.

"Because we're getting Cream to take you to a massage parlour, and you're getting all the extras!" Amy laughed. Cream nodded, the impish gleam back in her cocoa eyes.

"Faust, tell me they're lying!"

"…Sorry Tails."

"Nooooooooooo!"

----------**********=============+++++++======++++++

Well, chapter five- And I hope you like what you've read^^ Thanks to all my reviewers. I'm very grateful for your input, and it's quite nice that, although you don't have to, you still take the time to read my work, and tell me what it's like. (Admittedly, although I don't have to, I write it and put it up, but I'd do that anyway. ) Either way, I'm glad that the people who have read it seem to like it so far. Although I'm a slow writer, I'll still try and get some chapters written up for you before too long.

On a side note, can anyone recommend me some good stories to read? Someone of my ability bracket or higher, preferably. My writing style was developed on Mediaminer, and refined on Deviant Art, so I'm interested in seeing the writing styles practiced here. Just PM me or review (hah-hah) with the titles and authors, if you'd be so kind. I'll give a shout out to anyone who makes a recommendation. 

Also, would anyone be interested in seeing my _first _story? From way back when and beyond? I've still got it, and I guess I could put it up for people to see how I've developed. I personally think I've gotten better, but, I'm rubbish at assessing myself.

Time for some stats:

Word Count: 2,907 (Kinda short, yeah.)

Random Character Note: Faust- in girl's clothing. Sorry, but I just had to do it. What could be more fun than a military biological weapon dressed in drag? NO ONE answer that.

Random Writing Note: I was cursed with writer's block for a while in this chapter. I made it a little humorous to compensate. I used to be a more comedy-esque writer, so it wasn't too hard. Also, note the iron in the title.


	6. Chapter 6: Faust's City Gambit

And, in complete contradiction to everything I myself have said, I started writing a new chapter of Faust. Because, yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am utterly unreliable. Well, I decided to spend a bit longer on my author's note for this chapter, simply because I feel that I should try and inject it with a little personality.

So, like, anyway. The previous Faust chapters have, on DA, been less than well received. Obviously, I'm losing my audience. But, again, I don't care if anyone reads it or not. I'll write it anyway. And if you all hate it, I shall write it up and post it to spite you. Because I'm a really, really nice guy (!).

As many of you know, I'm having writer's block at the moment. I really _should_ do a few more oneshots (or my requests, on DA, eheheh) to get myself in the flow of things again, but meh. Baptism by fire, you know.

So, a big shout out to my readers, my DA readers, and anyone still alive on Mediaminer, which I will update soon, just for the hell of it.

So, let the next chapter of Faust's semi-epic story unfold! (Once again, sorry about formatting problems.)

(Just in case anyone's wondering, the locations I use are a mixture of original locations e.g. The GUN base, locations from Sonic Adventure e.g. Mystic Ruins, and a couple from Sonic Battle. Just thought I should make that clear.)

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Chapter Six: Faust's city gambit

----------**********=============+++++++======++++++

Shadow and Rouge watched the train depart in an uneasy silence. Shadow's mind was working overtime, whilst Rouge was still seething over the trick he'd pulled on her earlier.

"You're pretty suave when you want to be, you know that?" Rouge hissed, making it quite clear it wasn't a compliment. The Mystic Ruins train station, a precarious wooden platform built several stories up, creaked and rattled with a sudden gust of wind.

"There's a lot of things I can be, when and if the situation occurs." Shadow said effortlessly, drifting past her like a living silhouette. As he moved, he made a few quick motions with his hands. Then, with a broad, sweeping motion, he pulled out a cloak which was the same ebony as he was.

"How on earth did you do that…?" Rouge asked. Although she had often succeeded in walking out of stores wearing clothes that she hadn't been wearing when she came in, she'd always stopped short of pulling them out of thin air.

"A magician never reveals his secrets, Madame Rouge." Shadow gestured mockingly. He swept the cloak onto his body, and it fell gracefully around his lithe and powerful shoulders. It covered his form, making him even more like a shadow than he already was. For a second, he seemed to shift and blend in with the darkness…but Rouge shook her head to dispel the illusion.

"I forgot that you worked as a street magician. I always thought it was an odd career move for the Ultimate Life Form, but who am I to judge? Master jewel thieves turned secret agents are also pretty hard to run into in the job centre." the bat quipped.

"Heh. Well, not all women are as exciting as you, Rouge." Shadow smirked, that trademark smile shifting across his features.

"What's that supposed to mean, hot stuff?" Rouge asked, incredulously.

"Fake, huh? Never would have guessed it. I, for one, thought they were real." Shadow cackled, breaking into a run.

"Get back here, you pain in the ass hedgehog! I'll teach you to remark about my lucky charms!" Rouge yelled taking to the air and flying after him. She sighed inwardly as she

did it. The longer she spent with Shadow, the more she began to…like him? No, that wasn't it…They were already friends. So, what then…?

As Shadow jumped from the rickety wooden stairs to the valley floor, there was a cracking sound, like a pencil being snapped in two. He looked backwards, and saw the lower support of the platform broken almost in two. Instinctively, he took a few steps forwards to begin to save Rouge, but then he remembered that she was still flying. She landed besides him, and watched the spectacle now happening. The platform was being topped over like a great wooden giant, but there was something…wrong. It hadn't been a windy day before, and yet there were now wind noises. But that thing had stood up to wind before. As the two former Team Dark members watched, a few chunks of wood were sent skywards from the platform, like streamers from a party popper. With this new assault, the tower simply collapsed, with a rush and a roar of falling wood.

"Rouge…Something is wrong. Use those ears of yours, they must be good for something." Shadow motioned urgently. He didn't like this one bit.

"…I hear…the wind. Much stronger than usual. And a weird sound…and…wait…Gunfire?"

"Where." the hedgehog asked flatly. It was more of a command than a request.

"Follow me, I'll find it." the bat said, beginning a glide down the mountain cliffs. The hedgehog followed her swiftly, his jet shoes struggling for purchase as he slid down the mountain towards the ocean.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Ugh…this is even worse than I thought. The jeans ride down, and the underwear rides up." Faust grumbled in the cool voice of the president's aide. Sonic chuckled under his breath, and Amy looked at him scathingly as she started to take pride in her and Cream's work. The city was in a sunny day kind of mood. The streets were being bathed in the sun, and it seemed to make the fact that they could be attacked at any time melt into the distance. Faust, acting his part as a cute blind girl, was holding onto Cream and Tail's hands for support.

"Hahaha! That reminds me of the time Tails managed to turn his fur pink when he was trying to invent an invisibility ray!" Amy chuckled.

"Oh, I remember that! It was so cuuuuute! You really should have kept it like that, Tails. And it was so inconsiderate of you to throw it away! I wanted pink fur. Why not make another one?" Cream tittered, as Tails' muzzle turned an even deeper crimson.

"I like your fur how it is, Cream. It's a very pretty colour. I can't imagine what you'd look like in pink." Tails blustered.

"Tch. That would have been a sight. 'Oh, I've just escaped from the government, and I've been rescued from certain death…By a scientist with two tails and bright pink fur, and his equally pink boxing rabbit friend.'" Faust chuckled. For some reason, even the voice changer Tails had designed couldn't change Faust's dusky laugh that hung in the air. Sonic had all but collapsed with laughter at the memory. It seemed that Tails didn't always get his inventions right.

"So, Tails. When we get to the spa, would you like to go in the baths first, or would you prefer a facial?" Amy asked. Sonic began laughing again.

"Pfft. I shall wait at the entrance, thank you." Tails sniffed.

"Or, maybe you could sit in when Cream has her massage? You'd LOVE that, wouldn't you Tails?" Amy cackled. Cream shot her a disapproving look, but her eyes were somewhat mischievous- almost as if

she were considering it.

"I would NOT! Cream is my friend, Amy!" Tails shouted indignantly.

"Faust, would he love to see it?" Amy asked, grinning.

"Oh yeah." Faust grinned wolfishly.

"Whoa, Tails! I didn't know you were into women already! My little buddy's growing up!" Sonic guffawed.

"Quit it, Sonic! And you, Amy! Cream's my friend! And anyway, this desire is probably caused by hormonal imbalances due to my teenage state…"

The band walked down the High Street, bickering and laughing and teasing each other. For a moment, Faust reflected on it. "_Is this what it feels like? To have 'friends'?"_ he wondered to himself. It was…fun, to be with Tails and Amy and Cream and Sonic like this. Pleasurable. It made him happy, even. A certain amount of sadness passed through his heart as the bat realised that this was the first time he had ever felt this way. And it had occurred whilst he was wearing women's clothes.

"Well, Faust. I'm afraid that this is where we part ways." Tails frowned, as they reached the street corner. "Sonic will show you around. Make sure you get familiar with the city, and watch out for any signs that people are noticing you."

"I can't lie, Tails, so I'm a pretty hopeless actor. What happens if we get rumbled?" Faust asked in his icy female voice.

"Sonic will deal with it. He's the hero of Station Square several times over. If he protects you, citizens won't attack. But whatever you do, don't lay a single finger on ANYONE. I don't care if they're rude, or what secrets you hear, Faust. Don't touch them. If you do, it's all over." Tails said sternly. The bat merely nodded.

"Oh, and hold Sonic's hand. You need to act blind all the time, because you're going to be seeing the truth an awful lot with all the people here."

"I don't think we're at the hand holding stage." Faust responded scathingly.

"Pfft. I'm not happy about this either, you know. I have to run around holding hands with a guy. Although, at least I can pretend that you're a girl." Sonic smirked, seizing the bat's hand. The bat shot him a glare that didn't show past the black glasses.

"Well, we're off to the spa. We'll tell you if Tails peeks!" Amy grinned, seizing the fox and the rabbit and marching off. Tails looked terrified.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

Stones fell under the Ultimate Life Form's feet as he slid down the mountain after his airborne companion. Now, the sounds of gunfire reached even his dark ears, and the feeling of wind was quite present- but, Shadow pondered, it did not behave like wind would. It was more of a shock than anything else- like a blast of highly destructive air pressure. As he scrambled down the mountain, careful not to take the one false step that would send him careering into the sea, his hands trembled.

"You okay up there, hon?" the bat asked, gliding closer to him. "It's a long way to fall from there."

"Hmph. When you've fallen from space back down to the Earth, falling off a small mountain doesn't seem like a big deal. Rest assured, I've put to rest any fears of height long ago." Shadow smirked. The bat huffed, and began her controlled descent once more. Shadow could sense that he'd done something wrong, but…it just didn't seem to matter, as the adrenaline kicked through his veins and his muscles tensed, ready for the fight he was sure would follow his little abseiling expedition. _"Is this what Sonic feels when he fights? Is this what the faker claims as motivation?"_ the ebony hedgehog pondered.

The sound of gunfire began to sound ever more clamorous, and the blasts were coming thick and fast. The thick rasp of metal tearing metal rang through the air, and a mechanical whirring completed the battle medley. Rouge pulled back, and Shadow halted, clinging precariously to the mountainside. There was a sheer cut off below them- all that lay over the edge was the sea. So where was the noise coming from? Shadow's black cloak blew violently around him, as the ebony antihero listened, watched, and waited. A second passed. Two. Three. The hedgehog tensed, perfectly still.

"What, I wonder, is the meaning of thi-"

There was a huge crack as yet another blast of concentrated air tore against the mountainside. The ebony hedgehog was momentarily stunned by a great jet almost lifting him from his perch. He didn't notice the rock shifting under his feet until it was too late. Another crack, and he was falling, chunks mountain following him down into the sea, chasing him to his eventual oblivion. A white blur passed him, and his leg felt a sudden pull as he ricocheted back into the air. It all happened too quickly for the hedgehog to process, but suddenly, he was beneath the over hang, lunging for the platform underneath the mountain, as he heard the rocks crash into the sea-

"Shadow! Get your ultimate butt into gear, why don't you? You can't afford to be hanging around like that!" Rouge shouted from below, powering upwards through the air with her powerful wings. Shadow's fingers touched a rock edge, and he hauled himself upwards, his air skates scrambling for purchase as he lifted himself to safety. He took a look around at his surroundings. There had been a ledge, hidden from view, just underneath where he'd been perched less than a minute ago. It extended quite a way into the mountain- and was currently occupied.

"Shadow, is that what I think it is?" Rouge asked, touching down beside the ebony warrior. Her mouth opened in shock at the sight.

"Yes. I believe so." Shadow growled, taking in the scene. "A GUN aircraft picking on an old friend."

E-123 Omega. The strongest of Eggman's robots, and one of the only ones capable of feelings- hate being one of them. The battle droid didn't notice the ebony hedgehog or the slinky bat, however- E-123 Omega had his own problems. Reloading, he faced his opponent once more.

A GUN helicopter's blades whirred as it hovered mere feet above the platform. It was painted night black with blood crimson stripes on the bodywork. The cockpit was shielded by a solid yellow cover. Emblazoned on the side in block white letters was H-1643 SHADOW- probably a reference to the Ultimate Life Form who was glaring at it from across the platform. A heavy calibre cannon with a strange, covered barrel was locked onto its attacker. It made a strange whirring sound, probably the sound of the cannon charging.

Shadow tensed. There was an ear shattering sound and the gun fired, a shockwave of air pressure blasting out from the nose-mounted cannon. It rocketed forwards, sweeping dust from the ground as it swept through the air. It hit Omega with a sickening crunch, and Shadow was sure that the robot's metal body had buckled for an instant before springing back. A rattle of bullets leapt from E-123's hulking arms, hitting the helicopter full on. They peppered the helicopter's body before bouncing to the floor, deflected by the tough metal armour. The pilot was fazed, giving Omega the opportunity to get in close-

The harsh rasp of Omega's claws on the helicopter's hardened body sounded through the air. The helicopter dropped a few inches closer to the ground under the robot's weight, but the metal held firm, and Omega's attack was useless. Dropping back down, the robot retreated, heading backwards once more as the cannon fired again. Omega put up his massive arm uselessly as another blast of air smashed against his metal frame. His circuits rattled from the assault, but the powerful hydraulics in his legs held firm, ready to risk it all on one final charge. The battle-worn armour plating that had kept the robot in the fight so far wouldn't stand another blast of that wind.

"GUN HELICOPTOR MUST BE DESTROYED." Omega's monotone voice rang out over the sound of the whirling helicopter blades. The robot's arms configured themselves into flamethrowers, and he once again went on the assault. His powerful jet engines fired, bringing him up and off the ground, over the helicopter cockpit. He spun himself round, whirling the great plumes of fiery death emitting from his arms into a tornado of molten destruction. Rouge gasped as she realised that the robot's last attack would be to sacrifice himself in destroying the helicopter. With one final spin, the robot started to hurtle towards the cockpit as a fiery missile. Rouge watched as the robot got closer and closer to the cockpit. There was a great crack-

And Omega disappeared into thin air. There was a deathly silence as both the pilot and the bat wondered what exactly had happened to Eggman's strongest robot. And then, their eyes locked for a single second. Both were completely still. And then, to Rouge's horror, there was a whirring sound as the cannon gathered energy.

The pilot pulled down his visor eagerly. A smirk graced his face. He hadn't expected such an incredible opportunity. He was already ordered to destroy the robot, but if he blew the bat away too, he'd be promoted for sure. His steady hands rested on the joystick, aiming straight for the bat's pretty face. He didn't worry about missing. He never missed. After all, he was Marcus Barret, ex sniper and sharpshooter. The cannon's charge meter, a lurid blue light inside the cockpit, read 100%. One last moment to perfect his aim and-

"Hmm? What the hell? She isn't even running away. What's wrong with her…I almost feel bad wiping her of the face of the-"

CRACK. A gloved hand smashed through the toughened cockpit glass. Razor sharp shards rained down on the pilot's face as the hand groped for his neck. Seizing his jumpsuit, the hand pulled, and ripped him straight out of the cockpit. The pilot shook as he realised that he was face to face with Shadow the Hedgehog.

"_Worm._" The hedgehog hissed, and smashed the pilot's head against his helicopter, knocking him unconscious. The hedgehog jumped off swiftly, back flipping to the other end of the platform, still carrying the pilot. When he touched down, the hedgehog threw the human to the ground like a rag doll. Then, without a word, flicked his cloak. There was another CRACK, and Omega fell to the floor. The helicopter, without its pilot, crashed against the ground and slid for a few feet, sparks blasting from its underbelly.

"Heh. I see being a street magician has taught you a few tricks, if you'll pardon the pun." Rouge laughed silkily.

"Correct. Chaos Magic and sheer illusion work deceptively well together." Shadow smirked. He turned to the robot, and noted the visible steam coming out of his head as the circuits struggled to take account of the new situation.

"SHADOW AND ROUGE IDENTIFIED. TEAM DARK IS REASSEMBLED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE." Omega rattled in his monotone voice.

Shadow didn't say anything, but instead knelt and started checking the robot's body panels. Rouge did the same, looking for dents. It wasn't a long search. The robot was clearly in need of repair. The air pressure had taken a huge toll on his heavy metal shell. The red paint was coming off as well, and the circuits rattled somewhere as Omega stood up. The robot started running full system diagnostics, whilst the two other Team Dark members waited in a livid fury, muttering under their breaths the levels of vengeance they'd take on GUN for this.

"SYSTEMS RUNNING AT SIXTY PER CENT. BATTLE IS NOT ADVISABLE. SEEK REPAIRS." the battle droid diagnosed. Rouge looked concerned, but Shadow's brow was still creased in anger.

"Sorry, old friend, but not yet. We still have _that_ to take care of." Shadow hissed, motioning to the soldier with his thumb. Still unconscious, the ex-sniper's chest rose and fell slowly, with the minimum of movement.

"What should we do? Hand him in to the Government? I doubt they'll be as harsh as we'd want them to be." the bat chipped in.

"NEGATIVE. WE WILL NOT HAND HIM IN."

"Omega's right, bat girl. Team Dark doesn't work that way. I think we'll teach him the error of his ways, and extract some information at the same time…" Shadow said, a sadist's grin gracing his muzzle.

"Hah! Sounds good to me! Team Dark is back in business!"

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Hmph. Despite everything, I'm actually grateful to be holding your hand. I can't see a thing with all these people talking…" the bat muttered. "Also, I can't punch anyone. The people of this city have NO morals whatsoever…"

"Pfft. They grow on ya. What kind of secrets are you hearing, anyway?" Sonic asked.

"That woman over there- the one with the flabby arms- is seeing another man. So is the skinny one she's talking to. That guy stole from his neighbour, and that one over there kicked the other guy's dog." Faust hissed, jabbing his fingers at the miscreants as he spoke.

"Whoa. And you see all this, right away?" Sonic mused.

"Yeah. I can see the truth that's being hidden just as well as I can see outright lies." Faust said, grimacing.

"I never thought that the citizens of Station Square were such miscreants." Sonic shrugged.

"You suspected it…I hate being lied to." the bat sighed vehemently.

They walked down the street a little further, an awkward silence falling between them. A few times, a person would stop Sonic to say how they admired him, ask for his autograph, and inquire who the hell his girlfriend was.

"I'm not his girlfriend. I'm just blind." the bat would hiss, and the person, suitably wrong footed, would retreat, much to Sonic's amusement.

Eventually, the two reached the central plaza of Station Square. Faust took a second to breathe in the heady mixture of scents. A dash of greenery here, a waft of warm hotdogs there, a wisp of car smoke mixed in…He wasn't sure if he liked it or he didn't. But the sky was blue, and the clouds were drifting lazily across it, like ships across an ocean in the sky, their great fluffy sails heading for open air. The plaza was a pleasant place, newly built for the people of Station Square to relax in whilst they did their shopping. It was divided into four segments- the first was a green park, complete with trees and shrubs, a perfect recreation of nature. Next to that was a rest area, with benches, food shops and other conveniences. Across from that was the shopping segment, which all the best shops flocked to, their logos and signs pulling you in as they dominated the area. And finally, a segment under construction- when it was finished, it would be home to even more entertainment, and a new open concert hall where music could be played for the denizens of Station Square. Now, however, it was just filled with smoky dust and the noises of machines working. It was arranged like a giant square, with on section in every corner, and there was a road running around the outside for cars, busses and other vehicles. It was a triumph of modern design.

"So, this is Station Square plaza. What do you think, Ms. Faust?" the hedgehog asked, guiding the bat across the road and into the nature section.

"…..quiet." the bat hissed. Sonic moved to speak, but he found the bat's hand clamped across his mouth. For a few seconds, nothing happened. The crickets chirped, and the birds nesting in the trees twittered about this and that. The lush grass cushioned their feet so they could walk almost silently.

"What? What is it?" Sonic asked, removing the bat's hand.

"Shouldn't there be more people in a place like this? I can't hear a single human soul. In fact, all I can hear is machines working."

"Hey…You're right. Usually, this place is pretty lively…What's going on?" Sonic pondered.

As the two mused, a scream sounded in the shopping section. It ripped through the air and into Faust's ears. He winced. Just like the soldiers at the base who screamed as the Government's weapon broke loose…Sonic ran forwards automatically. The bat followed at a slower pace, his attire slowing down his silky movements. Nevertheless, they reached the plaza, just in time.

"Noooo! Don't! Stop!"- The voice of a terrified man screaming in agony. Click- the sound of a gun being loaded. Kak-kak-kak-kak. The sound of robotic laughter. CRASH. The sound of a blue hedgehog hurling himself into a robot at 200 miles an hour. It all happened in a blur. Sonic stood there, heaving with rage, as he took in the situation.

"_Eggman._"

Faust rushed forwards to join him, jumping clear of a robot who stood in his way. He landed besides the hedgehog, and looked around. Instantly, they had been surrounded. It seemed that this was a trap.

"Sonic. I want some answers." the bat hissed, looking at the advancing eggbots.

"It's Eggman…he's an old enemy of ours. And it seems like he's aware of your existence- either that, or he's just randomly making trouble for us…" Sonic grimaced. The eggbots, resplendent in their orange paint and round bodies, were almost like the previous model- the Egg Pawn. However, they seemed more well armed, and more highly armoured. And more intelligent to boot.

"Hmph…It's not on my data files. I find it suspicious that I have strategies for you, but not for this 'Eggman' guy…" Faust muttered.

"Get ready to fight, Faust."

"In this outfit? Get real."

"No choice. You have to fight now, or we won't get out of this."

"Fine, fine. But if any of these clothes rip, I'm blaming it on you."

The hedgehog didn't answer, but instead leapt into the fray. Showing the midair agility for which he was almost as famous as his speed, he curved through the air like a cannonball, smashing into the chest of the nearest eggbot. He felt the rush of wind around him as he rebounded, and came back for a second strike, shifting his body weight expertly. The eggbots spread out slightly, making it harder to hit them with his homing attack, but that wasn't of any concern. He could take them down one by one. As he hurled himself through the air at his enemies, never touching the ground, gunfire shot over his head, almost hitting him, proof of the robot's upgraded aiming sensors. He spun into another, but kept spinning like a buzz saw, slowly cutting his way through the thick shell and the advanced mechanics within. He landed on the floor, and sprinted away before another hail of gunfire could target him.

As he danced past bullets and gunfire, using his body as a weapon against Eggman's creations, he was dully worried about what was happening in the rest of the city, and to Tails and Cream and even Amy. But the feeling was lost in a blur of adrenaline and testosterone. They could take care of themselves for all he cared. He lived for this- the thrill of the fight, the danger of the clash and the sweet euphoria of victory. The world's fastest hedgehog had grown addicted to his heroism, and the adrenaline it so readily supplied him. He couldn't be stopped. He took down another robot, and another, inwardly laughing at how very easy it was. He was having the time of his life.

Faust ducked and rolled under the enemy fire, his brain working overtime as he tried to work out how he was going to attack. He was having major difficulty getting close to the robots. His new attire was slowing him down considerably, the sandals not affording the same purchase as his jackboots. The oranges that had been passed off as breasts rattled annoying against his chest, slowing him down yet further. As it was, he couldn't get close enough to hit the robots without being doused with a spray of fire. Bullets flew around him like flies over garbage, and he was very hard pressed to avoid them. And then, an opportunity flashed into the bat's golden eyes (the glasses had fallen off long ago). A robot had stopped to reload. Seizing the chance, the bat broke into a glide, cresting the wave of bullets that flew around him. With his utmost force, he slammed a fist into the robot. It flew…about 50 centimetres. The bat gasped in dismay.

"The gloves! Tails' gloves are too thick! They're restricting my powers!" the bat exclaimed. Scrabbling, he tried to take them off. He threw them to the ground, exposing his bare black hands to the world. They were marked with red cuts from where the energy had burst through his skin. Faust turned, and got ready for battle. The robot he had just hit cackled mechanically. The bat raised his arms to block a blow, but he wasn't being hit. He was being seized.

Held in the vicegrip of the robot's arms, he felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed against his head.

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And that's the end of that chapter. I had a hard time writing this, due to prevailing writer's block…however, that block has now disappeared sufficiently that I can write well again. A few questions to be asked- What will happen next? What is Eggman's real plan? What's up with Team Dark? And did Tails peek in the spa? All answered next time (possibly), in Faust the Bat!

Oh, and thank you, all the people who have reviewed! ^^

Word Count: 4883

Random Character Note: Faust dressed as a girl still makes me laugh. I kinda feel sorry for him, especially as it lowers his battle power.

Random Writing Note: Writer's block means that the first few scenes may be below normal quality. My apologies.


	7. Chapter 7: A New Hero Appears?

Well, here we are. The start of a new chapter of Faust. This might take a while, but equally, it might be very quick up. The reviews and response to the story so far have been excellent, and it just fires my writer's blood to know that people appreciate my writing. However, I am exceedingly slow, and I have exams and requests and other stuff to do…Well, we'll see. Here, in the lucky seventh chapter of Faust the bat!

In other news, I have a few original fictions planned. Also, I really _must _get around to learning to touch type…Yes, that is one of the main reasons I'm so slow. I use two fingers when I type. It's not funny, okay?

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Chapter Seven: A new hero appears…?

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"Talk." Another blow crashed into Marcus Barret's face. Shadow's visage was twisted into a grim scowl as he progressively disfigured the soldier's formerly handsome looks.

"Never, you furry scum." the soldier rasped. He wiped a streak of copper tasting blood from his swollen mouth. His neck and head were only just beginning to break out into bruises. Heel prints could be seen on his battered skin. He was a wreck.

"Hmph. More fun for us, then. Tell me, now. Why were you trying to destroy Omega?" Shadow hissed. Rouge cocked back her heel for another bone shaking kick, and Omega watched in silence, his mechanical arms gyrating and rearranging themselves into intimidating shapes with sickening crunching noises. A bead of sweat dropped across the soldier's brow, and he held the hedgehog's eyes as long as he could bear to. Then, he flipped up his middle finger in a gesture of vicious contempt. Shadow's head moved a fraction, and Rouge struck. Her boots, so effective as digging tools, made nauseating contact with Marcus' nose. Beneath her heel, she felt the snap as the man's face suddenly changed beyond recognition. She slowly withdrew her boot from the pulp of his face, and saw that he'd fainted dead away.

"Tch…I guess we won't get any information out of him now. Still, it was more fun that I expected." Rouge said casually, wiping her feet on the dusty ground.

"HUMANS ARE TOO FRAIL TO BE EFFECTIVE BATTLE UNITS." Omega boomed in his guttural, metallic drone. Rouge rubbed her ears, irritated by the robot's voice.

"Omega, hun, we're gonna have to see if Fox Boy can get you a new voice box." she said, patting the robot on the arm.

"…You really think Tails can repair him?" Shadow asked, his vigilant red eyes fixed upon Rouge's face.

"Of course. Fox Boy might be naïve, but he's a top-notch engineer. He _more_ than rivals Eggman these days. Maybe that's why the good doctor's been launching so many random attacks these days….plain old evil genius jealousy." Rouge shrugged. It was true that Eggman had been making far more attacks of far less intensity- more like annoyances than outright attacks. It was just one of those weekly things the Sonic Team had to deal with.

"Hmph. I suppose you're right. Still…What do we do with…_that_?" Shadow gestured, poking his thumb at the battered soldier.

"…Shadow, hun, do you still have that Chaos Emerald you carry around? I just so happen to have a great idea…" Rouge smirked, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Certainly…But why?" Shadow asked, producing the sapphire hued gem from the folds of his cloak. Rouge's eyes gazed at it hungrily for a second, then she pulled her gaze away.

"We're going to pay a little visit to GUN Headquarters."

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"Chao. They're just like pigeons. But better at karate." Knuckles mused, casually tossing another fruit into the gathering mass of chao. Every since the incident with Chaos, he had never really been alone on his island- the chao now flocked around the shrine, keeping both the scarlet guardian and the Master Emerald company. Here, he often considered life, the world, and other stuff. Like how very much he missed his hat. He felt the breeze whispering through the lush vegetation on the island, and heard the annoying squeaks of the lovable chao. Tentatively, he cracked open one of the fruits, and popped a piece into his mouth. He spat it out immediately, the inside of his mouth covered in a taste much like that of orange peel. The echidna grimaced, and rushed to the fountain. He plunged his fiery head in, and took in great gulps of cleansing liquid. It felt good, to be in the fresh clarity of the fountain's water. He jerked his head out, spraying water backwards in an arc. The sunlight caught it for a fraction of a second, and a miniature rainbow formed before the water splashed into the grass.

The peaceful, lonely life on Angel Island was one that Knuckles was now thoroughly used to- and unquestionably bored with. He craved the excitement of fighting Eggman, having arguments with Sonic, laughing at Tails' next less-than-brilliant invention…The good life, basically. It had been a great and never ending problem when Sonic the hedgehog had first stepped into Knuckles' life. At first, enemies, then rivals, then friends. Slowly, but surely, the hedgehog's way of life had pervaded Knuckles' own existence, and only now did the guardian know the horror of loneliness. The chao had kept him company, but it wasn't the same. They couldn't talk, crack wise or challenge him to fights. They couldn't run circles around him and then roll on the floor laughing until their spines got stuck. Knuckles, for the first time in his long, lonely existence, wanted more.

The red warrior sat abruptly, crossing his legs and closing his eyes, gathering his thoughts. Although he wasn't what you'd call 'smart', Knuckles had something that no one else in the Sonic Team had. No one knew what it was, but he had it- a certain sense of duty, of logic, of force.

_This is my island, my birthplace, and my ward…so why do I feel like it's now my prison? Why can't I do the things that the others do so freely? Is it because of some great sin I committed? Is it just pot luck? What's my purpose in being here? Why was __**I **__chosen to guard the most powerful artefact in the entire world?_

The echidna just couldn't figure it out. He had never questioned it before, and he couldn't find any answers. All he had was a great sense of yearning to be amongst his friends, and to explore. But, if that happened, who would defend the Master Emerald? The chao looked at him quizzically, noticing that there was no more fruit on the ground. Suddenly, Knuckles found he needed to get away from it all.

"You guys stay here. I'll be back soon." the echidna motioned to the chao. He knew that there was only one place he could go, and that was up. His feet started to ache as they remembered just how hard it was to climb the mountain.

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Faust felt the cold metal of the barrel of a gun pressed against his head. His entire body was held in the robot's powerful vicegrip. He struggled, but to no avail. The robot's arms were unmercifully still around the bat's thrashing body. Faust groaned and lay still. What a great idea it had been to dress him up in clothes he couldn't fight in! As he silently cursed his luck, the 'hoooooooouuuuuumBRSH' of a robot's jet engines fired behind him, and he found himself being dragged clean off the ground. The gun was still pressed to his head, but at least he could see what was going on a bit better. He watched Sonic the hedgehog pinging about between different robots like a ball in a game of tennis. Back and forth, taking down one robot a serve, occasionally taking time to drop to the ground and tackle on in a split second. And all while being harassed by a hail of gunfire.

"_ATTENTION,_ _SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. IF YOU DO NOT DESIST YOUR ATTACK AND SURRENDER POSTHASTE, THIS INNOCENT WILL BE SHOT._" came a mechanical voice blasting from somewhere near Faust's right ear. The robot had landed on an exposed branch of a tree, dangling the bat over the edge like a puppet. The fighting stilled as the hedgehog slowly stopped moving. The robots surrounded him instantly.

"Dammit, Faust! What were you doing? I thought you were supposed to be a weapon!" Sonic spat, realising the situation he was in.

"Shut the hell up, you blue freak! I'm wearing women's clothes, for goodness' sake! How am I supposed to fight in these?!" the bat shouted back angrily, the voice of the president's aide rising to a screech.

"_SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. SURRENDER NOW, OR THE BAT WILL BE KILLED._" the robot blasted again, the harsh wail of a megaphone piercing Faust's ears.

"…"

The hedgehog stood still, his eyes fixed upon his feet. A drop of sweat trickled down the bat's brow. The hedgehog was supposed to be a hero, committed to saving lives. But even a hero could falter…And given the situation, Faust couldn't blame him. Sonic had been willing to sacrifice his life for the Earth, yes, and he was perfectly prepared to die for the ones he loved. But a military weapon, conceived for the purpose of destroying him? The same military weapon that had thrashed him back near Tails' house, and who was, more or less, the cause of all their problems?

"_YOU HAVE UNTIL THE COUNT OF TEN._"

"…"

"_ONE._" The bead of sweat that had trickled down Faust's forehead suddenly went cold.

"_TWO._" The hero still looked at his feet.

"_THREE._" Faust's hands clenched and unclenched. The bat bit his tongue.

"_FOUR._" The silence in the area was suffocating. Deathly, even.

"_FIVE._" Faust closed his eyes and opened them again, the blazing gold irises dilated in panic.

"_SIX._" Still, the hedgehog didn't move, save for a spasm of his chest.

"_SEVEN._" Faust's mind was hit by the heavy realisation of his fate.

"_EIGHT._" "I'm sorry, Faust." the hedgehog said, his eyes glazed, his fists curled into balls.

"_NINE._" "No, you're not. You never will be." the bat said softly. The cold metal binding him was still just as firm as it had been before. There was no escape.

"_TEN. PROCEDING TO THE DISPOSAL OF THE BAT._" Faust heard a click as the robot's solid finger pulled back the trigger, cocking the shot that was to follow.

"Is this why I was brought into this world…? To have my brains blown out? It sure seems that way…" Faust mused sadly. Another second passed, and Faust felt his heart beat for what might be the last time. He closed his eyes, and waited for the shot.

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Rouge cackled as she stuffed the still-KO'd soldier into her superior's locker. Shadow gave a snort, which Rouge supposed was his way of laughing when he wasn't being maniacal. Omega kept watch, his optical sensors scanning both ends of the corridor at regular intervals. Making sure to put the soldier in the most embarrassing position possible, tried to hide her giggles.

"Was it necessary to strip him to his boxers?" Shadow asked, his eyebrow arching.

"Yes. Yes it was. Plus, we can use the uniform later. But, seriously. What kind of soldier wears satin boxer shorts?" Rouge giggled, girlish laughter coming from her mature frame. Shadow snorted again.

"SHADOW AND ROUGE. MY AURAL SENSORS ARE PICKING UP THE CONVERSATION IN THE GENERAL'S COFFEE ROOM, AND MY POINTLESS DRIVEL BUFFER WILL OVERLOAD SHORTLY. PLEASE FINISH YOUR OBJECTIVE." Omega said a little too loudly.

"One last thing. Omega, honey, you couldn't use your flamethrower to weld that locker up, could you? Try not to hurt anything inside. We wouldn't want to have him wake up with his satin panties on fire." Rouge cackled. Omega's arm clunked and twisted until it became a flamethrower, and set to work. The robot swivelled his head round to watch the ends of the corridors, whilst Shadow caught the uniform in a flick of his cloak and made it disappear.

"How do you do that, anyway? I know a magician never reveals his secrets, but I doubt that's a conventional magic trick." Rouge smirked, sidling up to Shadow.

"Observant as always. No, it's no ordinary magic trick. I use the power of Chaos Control in a very special way when I use it."

"Oh really…Tell me more, big boy." Rouge purred.

"….Ahem." Shadow flustered, then regained his composure. "When I use Chaos Control, what happens? Either I teleport, which is the space aspect, or I slow down time, which is the time aspect. However…When I slow down time, why doesn't time slow down around the world? Why does it only slow for me?"

"Why are you asking me?" Rouge snapped.

"It was a rhetorical question." Rouge sweatdropped. "Anyway, when I slow down time, it's actually another form of teleportation- I take me and my surroundings to a place where only I can move freely. It's the Chaos Realm. In it, everything, including time, is slowed by the power of Chaos. Except for the Chaos Emeralds and myself."

"What does the Chaos realm look like?" Rouge asked, patting out a stray ember that hand landed on her clothes. Omega was still welding behind them.

"Kind of like the normal world, but with more purple. Anyway, by simply sending an object to that world with a flick of my cloak, I can leave it there so I can retrieve it at a later time. Travelling in that world is very easy for me, because I can just Chaos Control to any place in it I want to." Shadow explained.

"…You lost me, hun. Just say it's magic and leave it at that." Rouge groaned, feeling a headache coming on.

"It's magic, and we'll leave it at that." Shadow said in his dusky voice.

"Thanks. You done over there?" Rouge called back to the robot.

"AFFIRMATIVE. LOCKER IS SECURE."

"Then let's go. We should be getting to Station Square, so we can find Tails and get Omega fixed up." Shadow said, pulling out his emerald again. A flare of light enveloped the three, and they were gone.

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It seemed to happen in slow motion. The gun flew out of the robot's hand, tossed far into the air. The readied shot was released, and hurtled through the air before embedding itself in a tree. Faust was sent flying, shards of broken metal and enough wires for a whole branch of Curry's flying behind him. Faust noted the fact that he was alive, and then hurtled like a brick towards the floor. Sonic's expression was half way between disbelief and horror, fixed on some point above Faust's head. Faust felt a hand snag the waistband of his jeans, and suddenly the world kicked back into normal speed. The bat's vision shifted into a white blur as a human's voice rocked into his ears-

"You'll be safe soon." It was a masculine voice- but it felt somehow weak and reedy, as if it were put on.

"Don't count on it." Faust muttered, mentally weighing up the situation. He could fight now- in a fashion. Fashion was the right word, because even though he'd taken off Tails' gloves, Cream and Amy's 'disguise' was going to severely hamper any chance he had of fighting off the robots.

Faust felt the human's weight shift in the air, and suddenly they had twirled up into a tree. Faust found himself slung over he shoulder of a middle-aged man, his bottom up in the air. The bat's hand went to his face as he saw the outfit the guy was wearing. It was, off all things, a blue jumpsuit- and he seemed to have put on his (poorly dyed) green underwear on over it. The guy was wearing thick rubber kitchen gloves that were finished in snot green, and was wearing a pathetic mask that had been made of cardboard. It was almost embarrassing to be saved by him. _Pfft…Is this guy for real? I wonder what the hell is goi-_

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Faust's thoughts were broken by the ear-splitting din the man started to make as some kind of victory cry. "The hero of the people! Has stepped FOR-WARDS! Yeeha! I, the-" he paused to take a gulp of air- "PIKO PIKO WARRIOR, have saved this beautiful young woman! I have done what Sonic could not!"

Sonic groaned. The words 'Piko Piko' were never, _ever _a good sign. Amy's squeaky hammer immediately came to mind. The hedgehog's face was an exasperated, embarrassed picture as the man dropped from the tree and onto the ground with the minimum of grace. Faust muttered an 'oof' as they landed.

"Faust? Is this the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you too?" Sonic winced.

"Sonic. I'm dressed like THIS, I've just been held hostage by some short, fat robots, and now I've been rescued by a guy who wears his underwear on the outside. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK?" Faust burst out. The Piko Piko Warrior just guffawed.

"I'm happy to help, Madame! It's always a pleasure to receive the attention of a dangerously sexy woman like yourself!" the man laughed, slapping his belly for some odd reason. A split second passed, and Faust's body spasmed. Sonic wondered why for a second, and then saw Faust pulling himself from the man's rubber-gloved grip. Within a few seconds, Faust was standing on the pavement, visibly shaking. Sonic was surprised to see a very ugly emotion flashing through Faust's face- a very malevolent, forceful look.

"You, sir, are a cad, a failure and a DAMNED PERVERT!" Faust shouted. Instantly, a blue glow sliced through the air as the bat swung his fist. The 'hero' went spiralling off into a tree, hitting it with a heavy metallic clang. Sonic didn't know whether to laugh or cry. On one hand, Faust's disguise was up. On the other hand, something damn funny was going on.

"What did you do that for? He saved your ass!" Sonic laughed.

"He _felt _my ass!" Faust shouted indignantly. Sonic's jaw fell open for a second.

"Yes, that's right! That stupid, rubber gloved peon just goosed me!"

For a second, there was no sound except the Piko Piko Warrior groaning in the background. And then, huge floods of laughter rushed through Sonic's system and started to gush from every hole in his entire body. The hedgehog was laughing so hard he couldn't breath. So hard he couldn't move. His ribs were cracking. Sadly, he got his comeuppance a second later when Faust spat out Tails' custom made voice changer and threw it straight at the hedgehog's noggin. It hit Sonic with a thud, and he went down like a sack of hammers, still laughing his little blue buttocks off. Faust glared at him in a bloodcurdling way until the hedgehog's last hiccoughs of laughter had gone.

"Change of plan. I'm going home to get changed. I'm done with this." Faust said in a snake's hiss, extracting the oranges from his bra and throwing them onto the floor. The bra soon followed, but the sweater remained. The bat stood there, his naked hands sporting angry red marks and his eyes golden and livid with fury. He was still visibly shaking.

"Hey, wait. We can't let you be exposed like that…" Sonic started, before laughing himself stupid again.

"Think, hedgehog! If I come back dressed as me, and help to destroy these little pest robots of yours, then that'll be some good publicity for me, won't it? 'Government weapon saves the day.' Worth pursuing, I think." Faust hissed, stalking off abruptly.

"You know, Faust…The more and more I see you, the more you remind me of Shadow." Sonic called after him. He was gratified to hear the bat muttering angry curses as he walked away. Eventually, the bat disappeared into the urban landscape.

"Ugh…What's her problem, dude?" the Piko Piko warrior asked, staggering forward- Injured, but reassuringly conscious.

"I'll give you a clue. She's a he." Sonic smirked. He took a mental photograph of the absolute disgust on the Warrior's face. If only Faust had stayed around to see it!

"So, wait. I just goo- err, saved, a guy?" he asked.

"Yup. Good job there, bucko. Leave the rest to me." Sonic smirked.

It only took one look at the Piko Piko warrior's face to see where this conversation was going. Just like every conversation Sonic had had with Knuckles, it was leading into rivalry. Aside from his (frankly daft) costume, the so-called 'Piko Piko Warrior' wasn't actually a bad guy for the job. He wasn't well built, but was bulky, to an extent, and the muscles in his arm showed in big lumps under his jumpsuit. Strapped to his back was some kind of hammer. The human caught Sonic's eyes staring at it, and proudly hefted the weapon off his back.

"I see you're interested in THIS, my hedgehog friend. This is the grand instrument of justice! This is the weapon of truth! This is-"

"Get to the point, Batman. I don't have all day." Sonic tutted.

"This is the Piko Piko 2000! Unlike the original Piko Piko hammer, it's made of a lightweight but sturdy alloy to deliver maximum carnage!" the man said proudly. It didn't look too much like Amy's Piko Piko hammer- the shaft was much longer, around Sonic's height. The head was also much smaller, and there wasn't a scrap of pink on it- it was coloured dark green and blue. It looked heavy, despite the 'lightweight alloy' that the human was spouting off about. All in all, it was like a polo mallet- long handle, small head, hurts a lot if you get hit by it. Sonic wasn't fazed.

"Hmph. Is that _all_…? Listen, pal. Leave this to the _real_ hero here, and go and make yourself a cup of tea. You'll get pretty cold in that jumpsuit." Sonic shrugged, making to walk away.

"No. YOU listen, pal. I'm going to prove now who the _real_ hero is. I'm sick of you and your little companions taking all the glory for helping people. What about humans? We're one of the most intelligent and industrious races on the planet. Where's OUR respect?" the Piko Piko warrior lectured.

"Then…It's a duel!"

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Sorry about having a) a short chapter and b) a late chapter. I've been somewhat ill lately, owing to my natural frailness, and writing was difficult. I decided to split this- which would have been a somewhat longer chapter- into two shorter chapters. I'm also sorry for not answering my reviews, although it was heart warming to find that someone had actually _missed_ reading it. Sorry about that, man. Also, this is important- **I'm changing the Faust writing schedule to one chapter every two weeks instead of every one week. **This is necessary because I've run out of pre-made chapters to put up, and I'm a slow (and lazy…ugh) writer. Also, it's Christmas, so I won't be getting too much done anyway.

Oh, and I decided to nix that little thing at the bottom. I figured no one would miss it, and it makes editing for multiple sites easier.


	8. Chapter 8: A city in peril

Well, with delays, computer confiscation, limited access to the Internet, general laziness and many other excuses, here's the next (hopefully) exciting chapter of Faust the bat.

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Chapter Eight: A city in peril

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Tails sighed contentedly as he felt the strong hands pushing against his back, gently ironing out all the stresses hidden in the fox's body. There was a brief spat of pounding, which was less than unpleasant, and then the heavenly rubbing commenced once more. A few drops of oil were spread through his fur as the rather attractive woman started to really get into her work, stimulating pressure points in a way that Tails had never felt before. It was still somewhat embarrassing, but the relaxation was well worth the stigma, the genius fox decided with another gasp of satisfaction. His enjoyment was bound to be short lived, however. A woman's scream echoed through the parlour, bouncing off the walls and corridors and into Tails' ears. Curiously, the woman didn't cease massaging. She was either very professional, or Tails didn't want to know the other kinds of enjoyment going on at the massage parlour. But when a second howl sounded, followed by a roaring explosion and whirring mechanical joints, she took a bit more notice. The massage ceased immediately, and all the stresses and strains the fox had been collecting shot right back as he leapt off the table, letting the towel covering his gentleman's area flutter to the ground (he hadn't really needed it, to be honest- he'd just worn it because they gave it to him.)

"What's going on?" he asked the woman. It was no use. She was a shivering puddle in the corner of the room. Tails sighed. He'd do what he did whenever he encountered something he didn't know- chalk it up to Eggman.

"I'm going. Keep yourself safe, okay?" Tails said to the woman. She nodded, although she looked so scared that she probably hadn't heard him anyway. Cautiously, he fled from the room, trying to find Cream and Amy, wherever they were.

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The bat ran along the hallway, listening for the sound of tramping footsteps and flying bullets. There was a strange whirring sound in his head- like an old computer. It was irritating, but already the bat was beginning to get used to it. An electric door opened nearby with a smooth hiss, and instantly the bat was in, holding a tall, gruff man by the neck.

_"What's going on? What in the name of hell happened to you?" the man rasped._

_"Science happened to me, that's what." the bat grimaced. He looked at his hands, wrapped so tightly around the man's neck, and felt a trickle of blood run across his palms. The adrenaline kept the pain at bay, but the bat was still disturbed. _

_"You're bleeding…Let me take a look at it. I'm a doctor." the tall man said. Against his better judgement, the bat's hands released from the man's neck. Faust looked down at them, and saw angry, livid red marks running down them. A blue crackle of energy ran across one of them, and the bat winced in pain. Instantly, the whirring in his head and the pain in his hands joined forces to tell him the answer- the blue energy that had saved his life in the chamber would destroy his hands if left unchecked._

_"Hmph…I suppose I'm just a prototype after all." Faust sighed. Suddenly, the 'doctor' didn't seem to have any significance. The bat didn't care anymore._

_"Hmm…You look like one of the experiments from the Bio research department. Fools playing God with chemistry sets…I always thought that humans should fight their own wars. Well, let's get those hands bandaged up." the man smiled. It was a dazzling smile, the smile of trust. Faust's eyes were white, seeing the truth as the man spoke. He wouldn't harm him._

_Faust watched silently as the man swathed his hands in bandages. They were drawn tight, and the blood soaked through a little, but the doctor simply added anther layer until the blood had stopped. Cautiously, Faust backed away. Making his movements very clear and obvious, he wound up a punch, aimed at thin air. The doctor watched silently. The bat was experimenting, but it was also a form of trust. His white bandaged fist flew through the air, and once again a light blue glow surrounded it. It was muffled by the bandages this time, however. The bat smiled as he felt the energy running across his hands. It wasn't doing any damage. The bandages were absorbing it. He turned to the doctor and smiled. It was a weak, crooked smile, from a creature that was never meant to smile at all._

_"Take these. I'll distract the guards. These experiments of theirs need to stop." the doctor said grimly. Faust nodded as he was handed a set of clothes. "They were my late son's. They look as though they'll fit you. I guess it's a good thing you ran into a locker room, huh?"_

_Faust dressed himself in the clothes the doctor gave him. They were a little loose, but they'd do._

_"I shan't forget your kindness." the bat said, his dusky voice twisting the words._

_The doctor nodded. "Now, run. Go to the end of the corridor, take a right, then a left. Straight on from there, and it'll take you out of the base. Like I said…I need to have a word with those guards. Good luck…By the way, what's your name, son?"_

_"I'm number 24 of the FAUST series of bio-weapons."_

_"I think Faust is a good name for you…From an old German alchemist, I think. You may make gold from the lead you've been given yet. You want a second name?"_

_The bat's eyebrow arched. "My number is my second name."_

_"Not anymore. From now on, your second name can be 'Edwards'."_

_"Why?"_

_"Edward was my son's name. Well, at any rate…we can't afford to wait around here forever."_

_The next part was a blur in the bat's memory. He'd ran. There was a sound of angry voices. The doctor had ran. There'd been the sound of flying lead. The doctor had screamed. The bat had turned back. There was a red gash on the floor, and a platoon of soldiers advancing on him. He'd ran again, and cried. All that was left of the doctor now was a weapon with his dead son's name._

Faust wrapped the bandages back around his hands forlornly. He hadn't even known the doctor's name. Now, fully dressed in his dead son's clothes, he was ready to go and fight the enemy that had killed him. He was stood in Tails' kitchen, now dressed properly.

"Doctor…I'm sorry. My name isn't Faust Edwards…It's Faust 24. How can I make gold from lead if the lead is a bullet?" the bat pondered sadly.

For a moment, things were quiet. The silence hung in the air like a bird hanging around a washing line, waiting for its moment to pounce. Faust could hear the whirring of his own brain, reminding him all the time that he was a weapon, built, not born, and that one day, like all weapons, he was going to have to fulfil his purpose- to maim, to kill, to destroy. For the first time, Faust truly understood why the fires in Shadow's ruby eyes burned so brightly. A second ticked by. Two seconds. Faust could hear another whirring, not the one in his brain, but something more…mechanical. The bat's golden eyes widened as he realised what was going on. He flung himself to the floor a second before the windows were shattered by a storm of bullets.

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Standing atop the peak of the mountain, the wind thrashing his dreadlocks around his head, Knuckles pondered. His chosen path as guardian…his forced isolation from the world…his fate not simply as an entity, but as a man…He clutched a stone in his hand, squeezing it as if it were his mother's hand. Knuckles had always felt something akin to rocks, as strange as it sounded. They were tough, sturdy, reliable. A rock wouldn't let you down. It took thousands of years for rock to be eroded away by the wind. And, yet, that was what Knuckles felt happening to himself. His long hours of isolation were slowly wearing him away. If he let it carry on, then one day he'd be as lifeless as the rock he held.

"I renounce rocks." Knuckles muttered. With a swift, sharp movement, he threw the stone across the mountain, listening as it clattered and fell. Knuckles smiled. It didn't make sense. Life didn't make sense. But so what? He still had it, and he wasn't going to waste it.

"I renounce rocks. I renounce guardianship. I renounce isolation."

He was getting excited now. The thin air of the mountains was pumping into his lungs. He felt giddy. All he'd done was throw a rock, but in the same instance he'd thrown away his duties, his isolation, everything.

"I renounce never being loved. I renounce being alone for the rest of my life. I renounce it all!" he shouted at the sky. It didn't answer.

"Hmm…What should I do with my freedom?" Knuckles asked to no one in particular. "…Dammit. I can't throw it all away. Not like that…It's not like me. But…That's good. I don't want to be like me anymore…I want to be like Sonic."

He frowned, creases forming in his red brow. It had occurred to him that the Master Emerald was his life's work, and the life's work of many more echidnas before him. It had saved the world more than once. To lose it would be terrible. But…Why had he been punished with its custodianship?

"Hmm…I need to put it somewhere safe. Somewhere where no one can get it. Where no one knows but me. That way, I'll be able to relax and not feel guilty about the whole thing…"

The mountain echoed him almost exactly. Once again, Knuckles felt attuned with it- like it were a part of him, and he a part of it. The great mountain that guarded the city and the forest, that never left their side. He didn't want to be like the mountains any more. And then it hit him.

"The mountains are more reliable guardians than me…I'll bury the Master Emerald under the mountain!"

It was so simple, the ex-guardian had to laugh. He was still laughing as he made his way down the mountain, almost skipping as he went.

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"Oswin. Goriah. You are aware of why you have been summoned here?"

Oswin frowned. The President's voice was as stern as steel and nearly as cold. In the meeting room, he held all the cards. He and Goriah were nothing. As well as the president, there were a number of nameless, faceless politicians staring at the pair from behind the lacquered ebony table. The room was dark, and quiet. It was at times like this when Oswin wished he had kept the simple life of a farmer.

"Faust 24, correct?" Goriah answered. His voice was high and harsh, like nails.

"Correct. It's still on the loose, and being protected by the Sonic Team, which is probably the worst possible scenario that could happen. This country is a laughing stock among all the other nations. We're pathetic. Our entire army can't do what one or two animals can. Our intelligence says that the militant nations of the far east are preparing their weapons, and our defence experts say that if they invaded, we couldn't stop them. We need to show them that our army can protect us without the help of the Sonic Team. To that end, we must eliminate the Sonic Team." the president explained.

"Pfft. Even with us, he can't resist making stupid speeches." Goriah whispered to his unwilling partner in crime.

"Show a little respect, before you get us fired. For a scientist, you're a halfwit." Oswin hissed back.

The president stood up. He was a tall man, with an iron look in his eyes. Despite his speechmaking tendencies, he was a born leader, strong enough to discipline those under him. And he wasn't amused.

"What, Dr. Goriah, do you suggested should be done about Faust Unit 24?" the president asked, a measured amount of scorn penetrating his voice.

"I suggest we leave him be, sir." Goriah shrugged. Oswin groaned.

"…You are aware that the revelation of the FAUST unit's secondary purpose, to destroy the Sonic Team, would be catastrophic this country? We aren't the only nation that's been saved by Sonic and friends. To be found plotting to kill them would bring retribution from the other world leaders." the President grimaced.

"Yes. But, he won't reveal it. Faust 24 seems to have no intention of doing anything against the Government- he doesn't have the time. He's too focused on surviving right now. And even if he were to develop a desire to harm us, he'd know that to reveal the secrets of his purpose and creation would be the death of him, too. It's stalemate. If he blabs, we go down. But he gets disposed of by the people who support the Sonic Team. Besides…"

"Besides what?"

"We've been receiving data from him ever since his activation. With the data that we've received, and the previous combat data of our forces against the Sonic Team…The next model has been designed."

Oswin started. Next model? What were they talking about?

"Hmm…The next model. FAUST units adapted for different stealth tasks, correct?" the President asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No. FAUST prototypes adapted to kill the Sonic Team." Goriah smirked. "Faust Unit 25. There are currently seven models planned- Alpha, Beta, Theta, Gamma, Epsilon, Pi and Omega. They're all in the design stage, as I said…they only need a little more time and data from Faust 24's body readings."

"What kind of data do you need?" one of the faceless politicians asked, a noticeable quaver in his voice.

"Data on the function of Faust 24's machine immune system." Goriah shrugged.

"Machine immune system?" It was a whisper that made its way around the room.

"We couldn't have a Faust unit with a normal immune system- the body would reject and attack all the mechanical parts we grafted onto the organs. No, we had to think outside the box. And what we've come up with could be the end of all illness- if we could only work out a few kinks in the system." Goriah proclaimed, a mad smile pasted across his wrinkled face. He was getting into his stride now.

"What have you done?" the President asked, his voice shaking with no small amount of fury. They were in over their heads here. Ethically, this project was bankrupt.

"Hmph. First, we injected the bat with a modified version of the HIV virus that's making so much trouble for us. We then put the bat on life support and in stasis, and let the HIV virus destroy its immune system, cell by cell. After the bat's immune system is weakened sufficiently, we surgically remove its lymph node- the part of the body that manufactures white blood cells. After that, it has no immune system. We replace the lymph node with a special creation- a 'machine cell'. It's a replica organ, created by the esteemed Dr. Foehn." Goriah explained, his palms open. Oswin's brain almost exploded with the gravity of the situation.

"Carry on, doctor."

"The 'machine cell' contains a supply of nanomachines. These act as the bat's new white blood cells, destroying viruses and bacteria that are designated harmful. They don't attack the inorganic components in the bat's body. They also purge the HIV virus from the subject's body, meaning that the blood cannot be used as a biological weapon." Goriah finished proudly.

"I…see. Has this been tested on humans?" the president asked, arching his other eyebrow.

"No. The system couldn't possibly work with humans. The machine cell that Foehn designed only has enough nanomachine material for one and a half year's function. After that, the subject would die." Goriah shrugged.

"Why one and a half years?" the President asked.

"That's what I wondered, sir." Goriah frowned. "After all, each Faust unit is designed to die after only one year."

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

Faust caught himself on his hands as a thousand tiny shards of glass hurtled onto his back. He felt the sharp edges in his wings, embedding themselves in the leathery skin. A sharp yowl tore itself from his lips. The golden eyes saw red as the bat felt a new and overwhelming emotion- rage. It was deep, sweet, burning. After all the events of the last few days, finally, Faust had reached his breaking point. He was sick of being shot at, sick of having to fight for his life at every corner, sick of fighting the world. He wanted the fight to end, and he wanted to end it with a thousand punches from his bandaged fists. He wanted to see blood. Growling, the bat flipped himself back onto his feet. His legs broke into a run, his breast began to heave and pant. His fists glowed blue, his golden eyes shone ever brighter. Five steps from Tails' kitchen down to the hallway, and another ten to the door, which opened swiftly as the bat ran. Faust's fist swung, tearing through the air. The blue glow traced a jagged path through the air like unholy flame. The bat heard, rather then felt, the blow connect. It connected to something cold and metallic. There were shouts. The bat wasn't paying any attention. His vision was blurred. He was surprised to find himself panting. He was sweating, too. Suddenly, everything swung back into focus.

"You foolish weapon! What the hell do you think you're doing? How dare you strike our allies!"

It was Shadow. The red eyes of the ultimate life form blazed almost as bright as the golden eyes they were staring into. The black spines quivered in fury.

"…Ally? What? What's going on?" Faust asked, pressing a bandaged hand to his forehead. When he took it away, he saw blood beginning to soak through the bandages. In the battle of bone versus metal, metal had come out with the advantage.

"You just punched Omega. He's a valued member of Team Dark!" Shadow fumed.

"Team Dark? Omega? What? Slow down! I don't know what you're talking about!" The bat's voice sounded panicky.

Rouge slowly stalked into view on the stairway leading up to Tails' workshop. Her teeth jutted out from her mouth in true bat fashion, and she held a dark scowl on her face. She looked at Faust accusingly.

"If he has a single malfunction, I'm going to remodel some of YOUR parts." she growled.

"Malfunction? What? What's going on? All I know is that someone was shooting at me!" Faust protested. "I was trying not to get killed!"

Shadow paused, his mouth open as if to begin a retort. Then, he closed it. Another scowl settled on his face, different but just as ferocious. With a vicious movement, he snapped his cloak, and Omega landed on the ground in one big robotic heap.

"Omega. Did you shoot at this?" Shadow asked, pointing one finger at Faust. The last word was stretched out, forced.

"AFFIRMATIVE. SUBJECT HAS 63% COMPONENT MATCH WITH E-136 SHADOW." Omega boomed.

"E-136…I suppose that was the number given to those clones Eggman made. So, Faust has similarities to a Shadow clone, huh…" Rouge murmured.

"Eggman? That name keeps popping up today…first Sonic mentioned it, now you…Who is this Eggman?" Faust asked, the hiss in his voice amplified.

"…Sonic mentioned Eggman? When? Why?" Shadow asked, the red eyes widening.

"We met some robots down at the park. They had a hostage. Sonic went crazy, I got taken and they threatened to shoot me if we didn't surrender…Sonic decided I was expendable." the bat spat. "Some weirdo came and rescued me, and I had an altercation with the guy. So, I came back, got dressed, and now I'm going to go and wreck me some robots."

"Eggman's attacking? Again? Hmph. Why are you going back? It'd be better if that creep didn't know about you. I don't know what his reaction would be, but I bet he could find a use for something like you." Rouge shrugged.

"Because. I figure that if these robots are trying to make trouble for the general public, I'd get some good publicity if I took a few down." Faust smiled.

"…Excellent thinking, bat." Shadow grinned. Faust was taken aback. A compliment AND a smile? From Shadow?

"Yes…It's an excellent idea. So excellent, in fact, that I think Team Dark will be tagging along. We could all use some…good publicity." Shadow smirked, his grin turning from playful to scheming.

----------**********=============+++++++======++++++

Well, sorry folks…About the shortness, and about the wait. But, the good news is that the story is back, and I'm actively writing it again after all the events. Next chapter will be longer, I promise. I know this one leaves a few loose ends, but I'll take care of them next time. Thanks for all you people who never lost faith that I'd (eventually) deliver the goods. And thanks to all those people who've reviewed. I send my greatest apologies for the wait, and my greatest excitement at the future of the story.

You see…Even whilst I wasn't writing it, I've been refining and improving the plot, thinking of new details, new events and more plausible theories. So, I've not just been lazing on my backside!

Once again, sorry and thanks.

~TheVulpineHero1


	9. Chapter 9: Enter Eggman!

Well, after a loooong break (a forced break) the Faust schedule is back online! I'm glad that the people who reviewed and even pm'd me enjoyed the last chapter, despite the shortness…This chapter'll be a flavourful mix of action, suspense and comedy- with perhaps a small smattering of teenage innuendo for texture. It's something to look forwards to, hopefully. (Because the last chapter was short, this one will be slightly longer.) And I'd just like to say: glad to be back. Now, let the story commence!

----------**********=============+++++++======++++++

Chapter Nine: Enter Eggman!

----------**********=============+++++++======++++++

Tails moved swiftly and carefully. The spa was actually quite a large complex, with places for yoga, exercise, men's and ladies changing and locker rooms, and a heated swimming pool. It wasn't well designed, and Tails found the entire place thoroughly confusing. He hated the cramped sensation of rushing through corridors that could barely fit two skinny ladies- never mind a teenage fox with a pair of tails that took up more space than Eggman's beer belly. His footsteps echoed on the well polished tiles, which were a half-hearted beige colour, much the same as the ceiling, the walls, and most of the staff. It was a little known fact that Tails' and the rest of the team's shoes were actually semi-cleated for better traction. It was a necessity for Sonic, because otherwise he'd just kick up a lot of smoke and dirt whilst demonstrating the hedgehog equivalent of wheel spin. There were no more explosions, but Tails could still hear the mechanical whirrings. It definitely sounded like Eggman's bots. Quickly, Tails' noggin went into a spiral of strategy. He decided that, rather than taking on all of Eggman's bots by himself, he'd search for Cream and Amy. They could probably win very easily with the three of them, plus he needed to keep them safe.

It was at this point that the war being waged between Tails' semi-cleated sneakers and a floor that made the moonwalk possible for even the most middle aged of men was lost. It happened quite suddenly, with very little warning. One minute Tails was running along cursing the builders, the next he was whizzing along on his bottom, legs akimbo, cursing the cleaners. As he scrabbled with his hands to try and haul himself to his feet, he ended up spinning. Resigning himself to his fate, he closed his eyes and let himself slide.

Eventually, he hit something. It was something solid, although it gave a little as he impacted it. It was also a lot warmer than he expected to be, and actually quite soft. Unluckily, it had a raised and very hard lump at about the same height as Tails' head, and perfectly set up to hit him in the back of it. As Tails clutched his head to his knees and threw his hands over what was sure to be an emerging bump, he felt his hand catch on something. The next thing that happened was an earsplitting screech. Tails opened his eyes, and turned slowly to look at what he'd hit.

To his horror, barely covered by a complimentary towel, and with cheeks as red as a sunburnt penguin, was Cream. Quickly, the rabbit struck. One swift slap left Tails' cheek the same colour as both of Cream's. A few minutes passed in a blur, and suddenly Tails was walking alongside Cream in the beige and beiger corridors, stammering and stuttering and generally apologising.

"That _still_ doesn't explain why you grabbed my towel!" Cream scowled, her pretty face besmirched by a glare.

"I smashed my head on your knee, and it hurt! I was just clutching my head! It was all an accident, I swear it!" Tails returned hotly, both cheeks burning in embarrassment now.

"Tch. At any rate, we need to find Amy. Hopefully, she's okay." Cream sighed. Whatever happened now, Tails was in the doghouse.

And the situation wasn't helped by Tails' compulsion to stare. The towel Cream had been given was pitifully short. It barely stretched from bust to buttock, and in fact, Cream's cotton tail was hanging below the hem. Apart from that, she hadn't a rag on her. Her bare paws pounded the floor, providing far better grip than the sneakers Tails was saddled with. She hadn't even deigned to keep her gloves on. It made it very uncomfortable for the fox to escort her, and a few times he'd been forced to close his eyes, calm down, and then carry on. If Cream noticed, she didn't mention it. Unbeknownst to Tails, the rabbit _had_ noticed, and she didn't care. In fact, she was secretly smiling as Tails played the gentleman. As her teenage years beckoned to her, Cream's taste for mischief had grown exponentially, particularly when Tails was around. Now, she made sure to shake her hips as she walked, and laughed when Tails said he was feeling light headed and needed to sit down.

As Tails crouched down for the fifth or sixth time, there was another ear splitting screech. This time, it was Amy. The pink time bomb was, just like Cream, shrouded from breast to bottom by a cheap complimentary towel. This time, however, Tails felt no temptation to stare, and stood up with a clear mind. He wondered if Sonic would react the same way if Amy ran up in a towel. Amy looked flushed, but pleased to see that Cream was no more substantially clad than her.

"Hey Amy. How do we get to the changing rooms from here again?" Cream asked, grinning. "I think I've shown Tails more than enough flesh for one day."

"Well, we can go down the corridor and to the left for a bit, but…Well, I've already been there. And it seems like you and I aren't getting dressed any time soon." Amy mumbled apologetically.

"Why?" Cream asked, feigning displeasure. To tell the truth, she was rather enjoying the muted admiration Tails had been giving her figure.

"Eggbots. They're in the room just before the changing rooms, and there's no other way in." Amy groaned. "And I don't think we'll be able to fight with only our towels on, Cream."

"Hmm…That could be a problem." Cream mused, finally taking the situation seriously. "How many bots?"

"At least ten. They're only grunts, but they have us outnumbered."

"Hmm…Well, Tails can fight them, can't he?" Cream asked hopefully, fluttering her eyelashes in the direction of the aforementioned fox. Sadly, however, Cream's charms seemed to be null and void with Amy clogging up the view, and Tails reacted instantly.

"No way. Sonic and Faust are still in the city, and I'm sure they'll have noticed the explosion. They can help us out of this jam."

The result of this simple logic was astonishing. Cream and Amy swapped colours, Cream blushing magnificent pink and Amy blanching. Tails was one thing, but Cream had no desire to be giving other guys such a treat. And Amy would never live it down if Sonic saw her so bare. Both girls protested, but the fox would hear nothing of it. His scientist's mind was in control, and the mathematics weren't going to lie to him. Ten versus one was bad odds the way the fox saw things. After a few minutes of heated debate, with lots of pleading from Cream and shouting from Amy, the fox still remained unmoved. And it was then that the evilest idea ever conceived in Station Square Spa crept its way into Amy Rose's head.

"Tails, will you excuse Cream and I for just one minute? I think we need to rearrange our towels." Amy said, dragging Cream away by the arm. Except for a small look of bemusement, the fox didn't do a thing as Amy took Cream well out of the fox's earshot.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

Faust glared. On the seat across from him, Omega looked back impassively. On the train, there would be no escape from each other. Although Shadow and Rouge had told Omega that he was an ally, Faust still wouldn't trust the robot as far as he could throw him.

"Now, you two play nice. Me and Rouge have some business to discuss…"

"We do?"

Shadow jerked his elbow into Rouge's stomach, and carried on.

"We'll use Chaos Control to arrive at Station Square. Wait at the station until we get there. Omega, keep an eye on Faust. Remember, he's an ally. If anything attacks him, attack back. Understood?"

Faust nodded curtly. Omega made a small beep of recognition. As the train moved off, they were still having a stare off. After a minute or two more of staring, Faust huffed and turned his attention to more worthy things, like the chewing gum that had been stuck to his seat and was now stuck to his trousers. Omega watched with the cold observance that only a true war machine could muster. Omega had been ordered to protect Faust, but also to observe him- to make sure he didn't go anywhere. That was what Shadow had really meant when he asked Omega to keep an eye on him. It was surveillance, nothing more.

Back at Mystic Ruins, Shadow looked at Rouge with a calculated scowl.

"Hmm? So, what do we have to talk about? I hope you aren't proposing, hun. If you are, the answer's no." Rouge teased.

"Hmph. Try and be serious."

"I will if you try to be funny. But I don't think it'd work for either of us." Rouge chimed, smiling one of her annoyingly sweet smiles.

"Listen. I and Tails, when discussing the Weapon, came to the same conclusion." Shadow went on, ignoring Rouge's attempts to draw him into an argument.

"And what conclusion was that? That he has no manners?" Rouge winked.

"No. That, as a weapon, his design…was derived of my own. Omega confirmed that today, by observing that many of his inorganic components are the same as the Shadow Clones Eggman designed."

"Why is this important?" Rouge sighed, getting a little bored. It occurred to her idle mind that if they had time, she could ask Shadow to chaos control them into a bank or a jewellery store or something.

"Because. That weapon isn't like me, in the sense it should be…It's not _finished_. It's incomplete." Shadow sighed, trying to make Rouge understand. It was at times like this that the bat drove him crazy.

"And?"

"And", Shadow snapped, "The Government is bound to send the finished version along to play sooner or later."

For a moment, as if to add to the drama, a chill wind blew. The gentle 'shush' of the sea's waves was the only thing that broke the quiet.

" I see…And, this Faust was programmed to fight Sonic. So…" Rouge trailed off. She didn't need to say anymore.

"Tails…Sonic, hell, all of them- they won't know what to do if that happens. They won't have the heart." Shadow murmured darkly. "But…I won't lose the life I've fought for because of the Government. If I die, it won't be by their hand."

"Shadow…What are you saying…?" Rouge asked, tenderly.

"…Rouge. We are Team Dark. We have to do what's necessary." Shadow said. His next words hit like a hammer blow. "If you ever see that bat acting suspicious…Kill it immediately."

The words rang out, the silence of the clearing allowing it to spread and spread until Rouge thought people five miles away would hear it.

"But why? Surely we'll be able to-"

"No, Rouge! We _won't_ be able to tell the difference. They'll make the new ones look exactly like the old one, and use our trust for him to kill us." Shadow growled. "It's a harsh world. We have to do things like this to stay alive. When you're being hunted, the sacrifice of one could save many. Don't forget that."

Rouge's mouth was open. Slowly, she closed it, looking down at the floor sadly. She had tried to ignore it, but some part deep inside her knew that it was true, and that it was necessary. For all that she was, Rouge was not a person who killed. She might hurt, but never killed. But, that part deep inside her was the only part telling her the truth. As she pondered, she put the things it told her into the only words she had.

"Between the hunter and the hunted…One always has to die."

Shadow looked at her. For a moment, his red eyes softened as they saw the confusion in hers. Slowly, in a movement that didn't suit him, he pulled her head into the soft, fluffy fur on his chest, and held her. Rouge was silently amazed- this was a part of Shadow she never thought she'd see…but had wanted to see very badly. The part that cared about her. For a few moments, they stayed there, two dark statues frozen by the horrible truth. And then, as if a spell had been broken, they fell apart gracefully. No more words needed to be spoken between the two. When the time came, Rouge would kill. That was all there was to it.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"What?!" Cream hissed, her cocoa eyes widening. "You really think I'm going to say that?!"

"I know it's not exactly playing fair, Cream, but it's the only way to goad Tails into getting our clothes back. He'll only do it if he's more scared of what you'll do than what the robots will do." Amy explained gently.

"But what will I do if he doesn't take the bait?!" Cream all but shrieked.

"Then…You'll have to show that you don't bluff." Amy said softly, predicting what came next.

"WHAT? I have to go through with it?!" It was a real shriek this time, the type that shatters windows and scares small children. Cream was almost visibly shaking with what appeared to be outrage.

"He'll take the bait. I know it. Even if he doesn't, we'll take…precautions."

"Like what?!"

"Well, we'll have to knock him out beforehand." Amy sighed.

"…" Cream was still shaking with fury. For a good five minutes more, the two girls argued bitterly.

"Listen, Cream. You have to do it, to get our clothes back. What if another man sees us?"

"But THAT? If Tails sees that…"

"It won't matter. It's Tails…After all, who would you rather it be?"

Cream kept quiet. It was true. She knew Tails, and what Amy was suggesting was the only way. She also knew he'd be very, very likely to take the bait. And it wouldn't be the end of the world if he didn't…

"…Fine. but you have to agree to do it too." Cream pouted. Amy hesitated a minute, then held out her hand.

"Deal." Cream took the hand, and shook it. She then gathered her courage, and got ready to go and confront Tails.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

Bang, another one down. More to go.

Sonic dusted himself off, taking a small breather from beating up robots. There were so many of them. It was almost like they were multiplying. A long way off, he heard the Piko Piko warrior shouting and swinging his ridiculous hammer. Irritatingly, the man didn't seem tired at all. The nature of the duel was thus: the one who saved the city won. His fierce competitor's pride roused, Sonic moved on, taking out yet another row of robots with yet another sliding tackle, then crashing heavily into one that had wandered round the corner. Shots fired; it was nothing new. Using those same old, same old moves, Sonic dodged. Bounding along the walls of an alleyway, he engaged in a spot of one of his favourite sports- pinball. 100 points for every robot he hit, and no penalty for dropping off the board. Ideal, he thought. Somewhere in the back of his adrenaline and testosterone fuelled mind, he wondered how Tails, Amy and Cream were doing. Even farther back, he wondered how Faust was doing. None of it mattered to him at the moment. There was an Eggman to defeat.

Similarly, the Piko Piko warrior was having the time of his life. The hammer that he wielded was designed for him- the perfect length, the perfect weight, the perfect feel. He owed a great debt to the Piko Piko Corporation…Not least for making him the chief designer of the Protopiko Battlehammer. That was its official name, of course; it was to be marketed as the Piko Piko 2000. In this, Station Square, the city where Piko Piko corp. had its main office, he was defending the people, advertising the goods, and playing the hero, all in one. It was a dream come true. He'd always felt some resentment that the name 'Piko Piko' was largely synonymous with Amy Rose. Some hedgehog girl, using the very first and worst product the company had ever designed, was the one who represented them. That would change. From now on, the Piko Piko corporation's representative would be tall, muscular, and heroic. It would be him.

Striking down another robot with a golf swing, the man felt the sweat dripping from his brow, soaking the inside of his mask. Being a hero was difficult, he said to himself, and he'd been prepared for that. In the man's mind, glorious images started to form…Of the mighty Piko Piko Warrior doing what the Sonic Team had never been able to do: Defeat Eggman, once and for all. It was with this comforting thought that he once again hefted his hammer, and strode away in search of more things to smash.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Hey, Tails…" Cream said innocently, fluttering her eyelashes. It was important to make sure he thought she wasn't bluffing.

"No, Cream. I won't fight when I'm sure to lose." Tails said sadly.

"Hmm, about that…" Cream tittered, hoping she sounded as mischievous as every said she did. "Well, me and Amy have had an idea."

"And what would that be?" Tails asked, arching an eyebrow. It was rare for an idea not to be his.

"We'll fight the robots for you, Tails. We're tough. We can do it." Cream smiled, as Amy walked up and stood by her shoulder.

Tails looked at them sceptically. In his mind, they were far, far too vulnerable. Cream was…Well, Cream. She wasn't made for fighting, no matter how much she boxercised. Amy didn't have her hammer, her trump card. Without it, Amy was even worse in a scrape than he had been years ago when his tails were too weak to grapple. The idea seemed preposterous to Tails. Cream would be too vulnerable…Not least because the top half of those soft, warm mounds were peeking out from the top edge of her towel…

Tails slapped the thought away, forcing his brain to take command of his hormones. He needed to make sure they didn't fight.

"But…uh…Wouldn't it be kinda hard to fight wearing only a towel?" Tails asked sweetly. He hoped his ploy would work.

Unfortunately, thought Cream, it's worked to our advantage. She knew Tails would try to stop her, but it was a real stroke of luck that he'd chosen THAT reason to try and dissuade them. Now, to give her little teenage fox friend a little bit of a shock!

"Well, that's the thing, Tails." Cream smiled as sweetly as she could. "We can't fight in towels. So, we'll fight without them."

"..You found some clothes?" Tails asked hopefully.

"If we'd found clothes, wouldn't we be wearing them?" Amy chimed in, helpfully. The fox's face turned pink. Then red. Then cherry red. Then crimson.

"You're going to fight in the…in the nude?!" Tails stuttered, shock etched in all his features. _Bingo_, thought Cream.

"Well, it's the only way. We can't afford to wait, Tails. Either you fight, or we fight. It's that simple." Cream said, keeping that sweet smile on her lips. "Of course, you'll have a better view if we fight. We won't hold it against you if you choose to…admire our gracious forms." Cream fluttered her eyelashes on the last words. But it was too late. The fox had already gone, and there were harsh sounds of crumpling metal and flying bolts as he leapt into the fray with the strength only true fear inspired.

"Good acting, Cream." Amy whispered.

"I wasn't acting." Cream smiled.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked, her eyes widening. Cream merely smirked, and watched Tails fight.

A few minutes later, the deed was done. Giving Tails a last flounce of her hips as she walked into the changing rooms, she heard him stuttering that he'd keep watch. Going to the lockers, Cream found her clothes- how she'd missed them! She'd only just realised that she was shivering. The complimentary towels had been coolly discarded as her and Amy pulled on their undergarments.

"It was kind of mean to do what we did to Tails, though…" Amy said, looking down guiltily.

"Yeah…I guess. I don't think he'll have nightmares about it, though." Cream smirked.

"Still…"

"I know what you mean. Hmm…" Cream grinned, her eyes dancing with unrestrained mischief. She silently promised herself that it would be her last trick of the day.

"What's on your mind, Cream?" Amy asked suspiciously, as she spotted the gleam in Cream's gentle brown eyes.

"Hmm…I'm going to go and make it up to him." Cream all but cackled.

Tails sighed. That had been a lucky escape. He'd preserved his reputation as a gentleman, but he'd never expected Cream and Amy to pull a stunt like that. He was proud that there hadn't even been a moment's temptation, not even with his crush on Cream and his hormones and his lack of any worthy battle power. He'd fought for what was right, and he'd won. He puffed his chest out a little, the sense of pride trickling straight down to his toes.

"Hey, Tails. Thanks for guarding us."

Tails turned round as soon as he heard Cream's voice. It turned out to be a mistake. Cream was leaning in the doorway, one of her long, curvy legs folded behind her, smiling with lips of cherry red and eyes of soft brown. The soft white fur on her stomach stood out against the powder blue panties and equally blue lace bra. She licked her lips, showing her gleaming white teeth. She stalked gracefully, seductively, tantalizingly, over to him. She put her face very close to his indeed, so close he could see the rich, beautiful patterns in her eyes. Then, she leaned up on tiptoe, purposefully leaning her body against his. From seeing her face, Tails now saw that lacy blue bra and that soft white fur close up. She bent her mouth very close to his ear, so close that as she whispered the words, her lips tickled his senses:

"Thank you for fighting for Amy and I. Enjoy the view, Tails…It's your reward for being such a gentleman. "

And then, she bounced back into the changing room, leaving him no time to speak. She smiled in a satisfied kind of way when Amy asked her what happened. When they were both clothed, they walked out of the changing room, and Cream was gratified to see that Tails' nose was bleeding.

(Just a _really_ quick author's note here…This story is rated T for a reason! I'm not exactly qualified to get any more graphic than I just did- I'm very inexperienced with writing things like that little scene there- but I believe that it's still a T rating. If anyone objects, could you tell me really quickly so I can change the rating before I get into trouble? I'm kinda finding my way in the dark here. P.S I hope I did a half decent job writing it.)

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Bullet scarred husks of badly tempered metal littered the Station Square Train Station as Faust and Omega stepped onto the platform. Faust smelt the scent of burning motor oil, and felt a wave of vomit rise in his throat. He pushed it back down into the pit of his belly, and started to investigate the remains of what had been a squad of police robots.

"DESTRUCTION PATTERN DIFFERS FROM EGGBOT SETTINGS BY 76%. CONCLUSION: UNKNOWN ASSAILANT." Omega boomed into Faust's ear. Shooting a withering glare at the robot, he continued looking at the remains.

It was, however, true what Omega said. There were never more than two bullet holes in a robot, and most often there was one. Not only that, but the bullet holes were in more or less the same places: planted right in the central processor. The police robots were very lightly armoured floating affairs, almost like downgraded versions of the GUN 'bots that had once chased down Sonic. They were ill equipped for combat, but each carried a small vulcan laser. Faust stood up abruptly, counting the wreckage. By his count, there were at least twelve robots, and they were strewn far apart. Omega's all but silent engine purred away pleasantly as the robot kept his sensors very firmly on the bat.

"…Hmph. No one we know uses guns, do they, Omega?" Faust asked, his ears flickering.

"UNKNOWN. AT LAST CHECK, SHADOW WAS THE ONLY ONE." Omega replied.

The saying 'speak of the devil' sprang into Faust's mind as a whirling vortex of energy materialised in front of them. From it stepped Shadow himself, and Rouge. Within minutes, they were brought up to speed with the situation.

"Hmph. This was no one we know, and no eggbot. It's not our concern." Shadow huffed, clearly thinking of other things.

"I wonder, though….These things are hard to hit in the air. Whoever did this is a good shot." Rouge observed.

"Like I said…None of our concern. Let's go, quickly. Sonic can't get all the glory."

Team Dark and Faust moved swiftly and surely. It was almost a thing of grace to see the four animals moving forwards as one entity- a symphony of black, red and white that glided into and out of the shadows cast by burning robots. Rouge and Faust's flowing steps had changed, from a movement that had the smoothness of silk to one that had the force of a river. Nevertheless, Faust was slightly faster than the thief, and Omega was lagging behind a little, unable to keep up properly. Shadow kept himself level with Faust as the two rushed towards whatever confrontations they could find. Each one ended the same way; streaks of fire from Shadow's skates and blazing blue light from Faust's fists would light the air, swatting away groups of Eggbots like flies. Without a moment's hesitation, the two would continue, leaving Rouge and Omega further and further behind.

Soon enough, Rouge and Omega had disappeared from sight. The two weapons crashed into another group of bots with the force of charging rhino, blue and orange tearing through the cold air. Faust's steps slowed, and he felt himself breathing more and more heavily. He stopped.

"Hmph. You're not bad…For a bat." Shadow said coolly, waiting for Faust to gather his breath.

"I wish I could say the same about you. I expected more from the Ultimate Lifeform." Faust grinned.

"Hmph. I'm glad you think you're clever. After all, no one else does." Shadow retorted.

"How many robots do you think are in this city, anyway? Sonic and that weird guy must have taken out a fair few, and we've been knocking out all the ones we've seen."

"It's questionable. This is the biggest assault I've seen Eggman make for a while." Shadow mused. "I believe that he'll be here in person, this time…I haven't seen his face in a while."

An edge of silence fell between the two. It swiftly became uncomfortable, and Faust urged his lungs to fill quicker so he didn't have to endure it. Shadow walked over to a chunk of rubble, and slowly picked it up, looking at it from all angles. He then crushed it in his fist, and looked again at the remnants.

"Faust. I wish to ask you something."

"You should be careful what you wish for." the bat sniffed.

"Be serious."

"…"

"You…have components, Omega said, that belonged to my clones. The clones that were made by Eggman…They were no longer alive, and they'd been outfitted with machinery. It seems like too much of a coincidence…For you to be half biological and half machine, like them, and have the same parts. My question, then, is this…Have you ever heard of or encountered Eggman before this date? Does he feature anywhere in your data files?"

The bat was a little taken aback by Shadow's manner. It was suddenly more sensitive, quieter. Quickly, he checked his data files.

"…I'm not sure."

"What do you mean…?"

"I looked for the term Eggman, and it came up, but…It's in the middle of a bunch of useless coding that doesn't do anything. It's all jumbled up. I don't know what significance it has, but…"

Shadow looked at his feet for a second or two, thinking. Then, his head snapped up, his mane of black quills whooshing through the air. The red eyes widened, and his mouth opened to shout a warning. The words were too slow out of his lips, and the bat was blown off his feet. A raging ball of fire had engulfed the Ultimate Lifeform, burning high into the air, sending thick plumes of black smoke skyward. Faust leapt to his feet, looking for the source of the danger. As it happened, he heard it before he saw it.

"Ohohohoho! Bull's eye! That'll teach you, Shadow!"

The voice was human, not robotic. Faust's world was bleached bone white. Panicking, he flapped his leathery wings, trying to make himself harder to aim at. His sight returned just as he started to fly over the flumes of thick black smoke coming from the inferno. The bat took a dive just in time, holding his breath. If he'd have flown into that, his lungs would have given up entirely. Arcing gracefully back up into the air, the bat saw an amazing site. From under what Shadow and Faust had taken to be nothing more than a collapsed building, a giant, metal spider was hoisting itself off the ground. Riding astride it, protected by a bubble of hardened glass, was a fat, round, and predominately red human.

The machine itself was a massive contraption. The legs were spindly, the body was small. Each robotic 'foot' was tipped with a blade that tore into the concrete below. A giant cannon rode astride the main body, and a second jutted out from the underbelly of the metal beast. Deciding quickly, Faust dived, his whole weight aimed at the bubble of armoured glass. It seemed almost like an instinct to him. He shot through the air like a bullet, rotating to increase momentum. Faust's heart started to beat at a hundred miles a minute as he saw that giant cannon moving, tracking him. But, with the twin forces of weight and gravity on his side, there was no way the gun could catch him.

The impact was solid. Faust's legs coiled with the impact. He looked through the glass, which was now more of a cracked goldfish bowl than an armoured protector, and saw a surprised, pudgy face looking up at him. The head was about the shape and size of a rugby ball, and upon it was a splendorous ginger moustache that was slightly burnt around the edges. He spotted the man pressing a button, and grinning. Faust was a little surprised, to say the least, that a giant red boxing glove shot from a hidden compartment in the bot and smashed him in the face. Reeling, the bat crashed to the ground beneath the robot, rolling to the side just quickly enough to dodge the belly mounted cannon.

"Who on earth are you? Don't tell me that Sonic and his little pals have recruited another sappy little friend to do their fighting for them?" the man cackled. Faust's golden irises disappeared, and he put two and two together- a threat to the city who also happened to hate the Sonic Team. It had to be 'Eggman'.

"Hmm…Your eyes disappeared…Hmph. That…Errrrr….Hmm…"

The doctor was musing something in that mechanically boosted voice. Quickly, the bat adjusted to the blindness, and accepted it. He'd have to play out this fight in his mind, as best he could. The spider didn't seem mobile enough to dodge him. He wouldn't be able to tell where the cannon was aiming, but that wasn't too fast either…And Rouge and Omega would be there soon. He couldn't bring himself to believe that Shadow would be finished off like that…Calculating his chances, the bat took to the air again. This was a fight he could win.

"Tell me…Where are you?" The bat shouted.

"Why should I tell you? Are you blind?"

"Pretty much…" the bat muttered under his breath. In his blind white world, he now saw the figure of a fat man sitting down ten feet in the air. It would be enough.

Darting upwards, he flew around where Eggman was seated in the sky, hoping that the cannon wouldn't be able to catch him. He couldn't see the robot at all, and he was conscious of smashing his head open on its metallic frame. He heard a great whirring, and immediately dived. He felt a great gust of air pass by where he'd been, and assumed that the spikes on the robot's feet weren't for show. He went as low as he dared, until he could feel his bandaged knuckles almost brushing the ground, and then pulled up. Flying horizontal like a stealth jet, he passed straight under where Eggman was seated, and heard a huge explosion behind him as the lower cannon fired. The doctor swore when he missed.

As the bat pulled up to try and outflank the robot, he felt his left wing bend back. He heard his own scream of agony as one of the thin, delicate bones snapped. For a moment, he thought it was over, but as he beat the wing again, it turned out to be the whiplash that had made the snapping noise. Gritting his teeth, he carried on his ascent, the pain flashing through his damaged wing with every movement. With a quick flick, he made a midair u-turn, and found himself flying upside down- straight at the fat man's goldfish bowl. A second later, and the fight was over. Faust's fist crashed through the glass, shards showering the doctor's face an embedding themselves in the bat's bandages. The doctor looked up at him, afraid.

"W…Who are you?!" he spluttered, pointing one gloved finger at the bat.

"Faust. Faust the bat. Let this be a lesson to you…Don't annoy me." Faust snorted.

The fat man spluttered. "Faust? Are you sure?"

"I told you not to annoy me, fat man." the bat growled, drawing back his fist. A moment later, it connected with the doctor's cheek. Faust looked at the human, disappointed. One punch, and he was out cold.

"Hmph…Nice work, bat."

The dusky voice of Shadow drifted into the bat's ear. He was standing on a lamppost, observing, with a bored look on his face.

"…You were there the entire time?" Faust growled.

"But of course. If I'm going to be protecting you, I have to be sure you can protect yourself." the hedgehog said nonchalantly. Faust glared.

"Well…Let's get going. We still need our publicity, right?" Shadow grinned, his teeth glinting.

"I do. You?"

"I just want to make a little declaration to the people of Station Square…And the Government." Shadow smirked.

"Hmph. Fine. Let's get going, already…" Faust sighed. It promised to be a long, long day.

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Well, that's my long chapter for ya. I hope you guys enjoyed it. C:

Thanks for all the support that I get from you guys who review. It really makes my day to see a new review in my inbox, and to see both the praise and criticism that you guys have to offer. I still feel a little rusty from my enforced break, but I think if I keep writing at this rate, it'll be back to normal pretty quickly.

Of course, the next chapter of Faust will be the tenth. That will, of course, be a special chapter for me, just as chapter five was, and chapter fifteen will be. You know what they say: 'Celebrate your achievements as well as your plans.' When you're as slow a writer as me, even small landmarks are important, y'know?

With that, I'll leave you with a quote one of my friends recently said to me.

"The one type of person I'd never trust is an author. They can kill and maim people they love, spread destruction across entire planets, and mastermind the most disgusting and complex plots- and all within the space of a few chapters."

See ya!


	10. Chapter 10: Piko Piko Showdown!

Well, here it is. The vital tenth chapter of Faust the Bat- and the last chapter, may I add, of the whole Faust goes to the big city thing. One way or another, it ends now! …Well, that was unnecessary. I'm quite pleased at having reached the tenth chapter, especially as my last story (it was called Inked In Flame, and it was written back when I was a fledgling writer- I decided against putting it up on , but there are a couple places on the web where it can still be found, as well as half a dozen stories that I started and then never wrote more than the first chapter of) finished after thirteen chapters. Well, I can tell you this- Faust is likely to last just a _little _bit longer than that! (Considering I have over 7 more chapters planned, and there's still a helluva lot of story to go, yeah, it'll last quite a while.)

Anyway. It's time for the story to commence!

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Chapter Ten: Piko Piko Showdown!

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Sonic's chest heaved, his blue spines shaking with every intake of breath. His body was scuffed and dirty, the tan pink of his belly streaked with jet-black oil and motor fluids. One arm hung lower than the other, reaching towards the floor, towards rest and submission. But there was no mercy for heroes, and once again, shots rang through the square. Without hesitation, ignoring the lead that had settled in his limbs, he rushed towards yet another squad of robots. Rolling himself into a ball, he let his own momentum hurl him into the robots like a bowling ball. He hadn't the energy to do anything else. The robots felt the brunt of a lazy impact, but nevertheless, it was an impact that knocked them to the floor. None of the robots got up again. Neither did Sonic. His arms and legs had finally reached their limits, and all he could manage was to fall to the ground, face to the dirt, and gather his energy safe in the knowledge that he was a sitting duck and he could be killed at any time. Somewhere behind him, he heard a groan- a very human sounding groan. He also heard the thud of a heavy hammer falling to the ground, followed by another thud.

"Hey…Looks like we're both down." Sonic said, fatigue dragging his words down like iron weights.

"Heh…I guess this whole 'hero' thing is harder than it looks." the Piko Piko Warrior said in the way of an answer.

Both man and hedgehog fell silent. The only sound either could hear was that of the other's laboured breathing. Sonic pondered now, his adrenaline rush well and truly exhausted- what had happened to Tails and Amy? What about Faust? Was the bat, right now, fighting the remaining robots in the city? The thought was a discomfort. Tails may have believed in the bat, but Sonic couldn't bring himself to trust the weapon. He remembered the fire in Faust's golden eyes when the bat was swatting him around in midair, the dull, steady malice that lit his features each time he saw the hedgehog. The bat had nothing to offer except danger. Sighing, Sonic's mind flashed, with guilt, to the image of the bat, with a gun at his throat, and the melancholy resignation in his eyes as he saw that Sonic, the 'hero', didn't care to save him.

Slowly, a new, different sound filled the square. The sound of hushed whispers, cautious warnings and concerned wishes. Sonic raised his head, and saw the people of Station Square gathered around both him and the Piko Piko Warrior. They were of all colours, heights and sizes, but all shared a common cause- the heroes that had saved their city.

"Hey. It looks like most of the robots are gone. The police managed to take care of the rest of them. You guys did good." one bystander offered.

"Certainly. If not for you two, many more would have died." another smiled.

"Heh…well, sorry, Sonic, but we still have a score to settle." This time the voice was the Piko Piko warrior's. He'd dragged himself to his feet, and offered a hand to help the hedgehog do the same.

"Queensbury rules. No eye-gouging." Sonic joked grimly. In truth, he didn't want to fight.

"You ready to start?"

"It's cliché, but I was born ready."

The two heroes prepared to battle, and the townspeople respectfully moved away to give them room. The Piko Piko warrior readied his hammer, and Sonic steeled his courage. But, destiny had another path for the heroes to follow; because at that moment, the one thing no one expected to happen, happened.

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Rouge stumbled through the discarded pieces of metal and assorted rubble, with Omega no more than ten paces behind her. Shadow and Faust had gone ahead a long time ago. Sensing the lack of movement within the city, Rouge assumed it was finally over. This had been the biggest attack in a while. In recent times, it seemed that Eggman was just making attacks to give himself something to do at the weekends, but this was something else. It was meticulously planned, with good numbers and resources- not typical of Eggman in recent times. The answer struck Rouge quickly- the good doctor had been playing possum. He'd been making false attacks to lull the Sonic team into a false sense of security, whilst building his numbers in secret. If his plan had gone off correctly, there was little the Sonic team could do to stop him; the attack was too sudden, too decisive. However, he hadn't counted on the presence of Faust, Team Dark, or this 'Piko Piko Warrior' that Faust had described. If it weren't for that, the city would probably be saluting the doctor by now.

Rouge was torn from her thoughts by a small movement in a pile of rusted scrap to her right. Instantly alert, she focused on it entirely. Within a few seconds, a single Eggbot, with a damaged arm and chassis, burst from the scrap. It fell at Rouge's feet, whining metallically, engaged in the equivalent of robot death throes. Rouge watched intently; too intently. With her eyes and ears focused on the dying 'bot, she didn't notice the quiet footsteps behind her. By the time she felt a presence, it was too late- the ambusher had a gun to her head. Rouge looked up at her attacker, and saw a familiar orange moustache. It was Eggman.

Eggman put a grubby glove on Rouge's shoulder as Omega opened his arm cannons. The doctor made sure that the gun was very visible indeed. Omega faltered. Rouge tried to twist out of the doctor's grip, but his hand was clamped like a vice to her delicate shoulder.

"What do you want, Egghead?" Rouge asked, changing tact. She tried stomping on his foot, but felt a dull clang. Steel toe-capped boots.

"Ohohoho! Why the harsh words? Can't an old friend say hello from time to time?" the doctor cackled.

"We're a long way past friends, doctor. Spill it. Why take the trouble to ambush us?"

The doctor stroked his chin thoughtfully, the way he always did before making a partially insane monologue. Rouge sighed. Eggman hadn't changed at all.

"I just wanted some information, my dear. Would you happen to be familiar with the name 'Faust the bat'?" Eggman asked suspiciously.

Rouge sniffed. "That joker? He thinks I'm full of silicon."

"Don't we all…A-anyway", the doctor blustered as Rouge's eyes flashed fire, "I want some information about that bat. You see, I ran into him earlier, and my robot scanned him…he seems to have a few of my parts. Why does he have them?"

"Ask the President. I'm sure he knows."

"Be serious, Rouge. I won't kill you, but bullets hurt, you know."

"I'm being serious. He's a government weapon. They made him, they'll have his blueprints and what have you." Rouge sniffed.

Eggman rubbed his bald head with the hand holding the gun. Instantly, Omega surged forwards, shoulder charging both the Doctor and Rouge. But whereas Rouge gracefully flipped away without breaking a sweat, Eggman fell as quickly as his namesake and landed with an almost audible crack. Grunting, he drew himself to his feet, holding an injured arm. He found the unwelcome sight of both Rouge and Omega staring him down, Rouge holding the gun that had fallen from Eggman's hand.

"Now, Doctor…Why do you want information on our little bat friend?" Rouge asked sweetly, flaunting the gun in Eggman's face.

"I have a scientific interest in him. And I want to know what he's doing with my parts." Eggman said coolly.

"Ah. Well, Doctor…we'd be quite pleased if you'd curb your curiosity. Faust is under Team Dark's protection." Rouge threatened.

"Hmm, well…In the meantime, what on earth happened to Omega?" Eggman asked, pointing at the dents in Omega's panels.

"You can ask the President that as well."

Rouge was disturbed to know that Eggman's face could turn from a pale, flabby kind of pink to a burning red in less than four seconds. Although the doctor just stopped short of exploding, for a second Rouge could have sworn she saw steam coming out of his ears.

"WHAT?! Those Government crackpots have the nerve to damage one of MY best creations?" Eggman thundered. Omega clicked and whirred, raising his other arm. The robot didn't like being reminded that he was one of Eggman's 'creations'.

"Quiet down, Eggy. Now, what are you going to do to make us let you go _without_ giving you your recommended daily amount of lead?" Rouge said, poking the gun into Eggman's flabby stomach.

Eggman was silent for a second, evidently pondering how to get himself out of his decidedly sticky situation. Rouge watched with amusement. Omega's arm cannon was still pointed directly at the doctor's face.

"I'll make you a deal, Rouge." Eggman whispered.

"Oh? And what do you have that could interest me?" Rouge asked, picking the words carefully.

"Oh, I have a few notable gemstones that I could bear to part with…Including, if you would believe me, a Chaos Emerald." Eggman observed the glow in Rouge's eyes, and knew he had hooked her.

Despite all the changes that had happened to the Sonic team, it seemed that Rouge's loyalty could be still be bought for the right price.

"I'm listening, Eggman. A chaos emerald could be quite beneficial to my interests." Rouge smiled.

"I want information…About that bat. He's…interesting. My parts, disappearing eyes, being made by the government…It doesn't add up. I want schematics, data, parts lists, specifications…anything." Eggman said with alarming urgency.

"Heh…Shadow dictated to Tails the information we found at the GUN facility. It should still be on his computer. I can get you that. And you'll give me the jewels?"

"Certainly. You have my word, Rouge." Eggman said solemnly. "So…We have a deal?"

"Not quite yet, Doctor. You see, there's one other thing I want before I'm willing to let you go free." Rouge smiled.

"Hmph! And what could that be? A Chaos emerald should be more than enough compensation." the doctor glared.

"I want Omega's blueprints." Rouge grinned.

"Omega's blueprints? But they're encrypted to be uncopiable, so that any hackers wouldn't be able to get their hands on them. They have to be removed from my computer manually. That means I won't have a copy." Eggman mused.

"Perfect. I was going to tell you to destroy any other copies you had anyway. Omega isn't just a robot or a creation. He's a person, and those blueprints rightfully belong to him." Rouge smiled.

"…Grr! Fine. Meet me in the centre of Station Square at midnight tomorrow. I'll have what you want. But if you tell anyone, I'll destroy those blueprints in an instant."

"Deal. Now get out of my sight. We never saw you."

As Eggman retreated, Omega looked at Rouge with his deep, electric eyes.

"WAS THAT TRULY THE RIGHT THING TO DO?" Omega asked in his cold voice.

"You mean more to me than that bat, Omega. You're a member of Team Dark, and this needs to be done." Rouge said, a sly smile curling her lips.

"…THANK YOU, ROUGE." Omega said, starting to walk once again.

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Sonic fell to his knees, taken down in a single blow by a well-placed hammer blow. But, the Piko Piko Warrior hadn't even moved- save to drop his jaw in amazement as the events unfolded. Amy Rose, a champion hammer-chucker, had applied her art with- well, not deadly, but certainly very painful precision. As the crowd gawped in what may have been understated as awe, Amy walked resolutely up to her target, and tied his arms and legs with what appeared to be inferior quality complementary towels. Tails and Cream ran a few seconds after, panting for breath. Tails had a wad of tissue stuffed up his nose.

"Soooooonic! Do you have ANY idea what we went through whilst we were waiting for you to save us? We almost had to strip! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Amy berated. Not that it did any good- the hedgehog was out like an economy light bulb.

"Uh…Amy. I think you may have…uh…interrupted something…" Tails muttered sheepishly. Amy ignored him, and started to heave the KO'd hero onto her shoulders. Cream had started apologising to the crowd, looking distinctly ruffled.

"Hey! I was…We were…I was about to fight him!" the Piko Piko Warrior protested feebly. Amy threw him a withering glare, and the man visibly shrank. Tails made motions for the man to shut up. It was a wise decision, really- an angry Amy Rose was like a depth charge in a thimble- always spectacular, and usually wrecked everything for ages around.

"Sorry, sorry. It's, uh…It's her 'time of month.'" Cream said desperately, waving the crowd away so Amy could move through without hurting anybody.

After picking her way through the rapidly dispersing crowd, Amy unceremoniously dumped Sonic in a heap onto the floor. She stood for a second, deciding what to do next. With a slow, deliberate movement, she turned her head to look at the Piko Piko Warrior. Fire danced in her eyes, and a grimace took root in her face. She turned, abruptly, and marched towards the man.

"H…Hey! W-what do you think you're doing?" he stammered, holding his hammer in front of him for protection as she pounded forwards relentlessly. Amy picked up her own hammer from where it had fallen, and twisted it through the air as she moved.

"So! You were going to fight MY Sonic, huh? NO ONE gets to clock him with a hammer except ME!" Amy barked, like a cross between a big sister and a possessive bunny boiler.

"It was a duel! A man's competition! Besides, he can't fight me now, so I suppose I'll…just, uh…go away." the Piko Piko Warrior stuttered. He could now see why Sonic was so scared of Amy Rose in a bad mood.

"Oh no. You wanted a fight, mister, so you're getting a fight. Get ready to defend yourself." Amy stormed, hefting her own Piko Piko hammer into a battle-ready position. Seeing he had no choice but to do likewise, the Piko Piko Warrior followed suit.

Without hesitation, Amy started the fight. Her hammer screamed through the air in a pink and yellow blur, crashing heavily into the Piko Piko Warrior's side. The blow knocked the air out of the man's lungs, allowing Amy to strike a second telling blow, this time aimed at his legs. As she drew back her hammer for another strike the warrior's fighting instincts finally kicked in. Moving swiftly, he jerked the hilt of his hammer around, catching her hammer's head with the shaft. With a flick of her wrist, Amy broke the hold, and struck again, aiming for the shaft itself. The Piko Piko warrior took a step backwards, feeling the force behind the blow as it whistled past. This time, he mounted his own offensive, swinging his hammer like a great pendulum around himself. Amy jumped over it and took the opportunity to attack once more, bonking him on the head. He took another heavy stroke, but his aim was poor; Amy was well behind the head of the hammer, and caught the shaft with her own, her heels digging into the ground. The two struggled, a bead of sweat forming on the Warrior's brow behind his mask.

Once again, it was Amy that broke the stalemate, flipping her own hammer down and ducking the blow. Staggered, the Piko Piko Warrior realised that he was at a disadvantage. He had no time to ponder, however; the fight abruptly became mobile, as Amy threw a powerful overhead strike. The Warrior jumped backwards, allowing the extra weight of his hammer to flip his body in midair. He landed on his hands, and with another powerful thrust towards the ground, threw himself back to his feet. Amy ran towards him, throwing a veritable storm of blows. The Warrior ducked and weaved, but he was too big and too slow; a blow connected with the side of his head, the force throwing him to the ground. He was up again in a second, but he now knew he could never win this fight- and that it was his own fault.

His mind cast back to the development of the Piko Piko 2000. He had wanted it to be heavier- much heavier- than the previous Piko Piko hammer. Force was mass times velocity squared. If you had more mass in the hammer, you could do more damage. It was pure logic. But, he had made a schoolboy error- he hadn't considered the purpose of the weapon. The Piko Piko hammer had always been marketed as an 'urban defence weapon'- it wasn't meant to kill or seriously injure. But the danger with the Piko Piko 2000 was that he was having to hold himself back, to reduce the power of his strikes. And reducing the power meant reducing the speed. And reducing the speed meant that he'd never land a single hit. Amy, on the other hand, could swing just as hard and fast as she wanted.

With the realisation came the punishment. Amy's strikes were much stronger than his own, and he hadn't hit a single time. Amy swung one final time, her hammer moving faster than the human eye as it smashed into the Warrior's chest. With that, he went down. The blows that had landed on him in the fight finally had their effect, and he crumbled like a Lego house under the impact.

Amy looked down at him, her chest moving swiftly as she drew her breath. Despite the ease with which she won, it had tired her out. Without a word, she turned and marched away. Tails and Cream moved aside to let her pass, and then followed from a safe distance as Amy hefted her hedgehog prize and stomped off towards the train station.

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"Hey! It's him! The one from TV!"

"Yeah, I'd recognize that face anywhere! He flipped the tank!"

"Everybody, stay back! He might be dangerous!"

Faust pressed a bandaged hand to his forehead. Not only was he blinded by these people's voices, but they were immediately biased against him. It was to be expected, but still, the bat didn't like it.

"People of Station Square. May I have your attention?" Shadow spoke up, his acid voice cutting through the noise. The gathered people fell silent as the hedgehog moved towards them. As much as the two didn't get along, Faust was very grateful for Shadow's presence at the moment.

"The information given to you by the Government was…" Shadow deliberated a second, deciding what would be the best way to proceed. "Flawed."

"Flawed? In what way? He flipped a tank! He's dangerous to people!"

"Faust is not your enemy. In fact, he was designed by the Government themselves, for the purpose of…"

Shadow grasped at the words. Faust shuddered. He would have said it himself, but he couldn't lie. If he spoke up, he knew he would end up admitting that his purpose was unknown, but seemed to have something to do with eliminating the Sonic Team.

"Defending against Eggman. Now, of course, in order to make him a good android, he needed to be kept secret. He's not finished at the moment, which is why the Government wants him back. They want to keep him secret so he can be finished and used against Eggman." Shadow invented wildly. He noticed Faust glaring at him when he said the word 'android'.

"It's true, mommy!" The voice came from a child in the crowd. "I saw him smacking some Eggbots with Shadow!"

Other members of the crowd began to murmur about sightings of the bat helping Shadow to defeat robots. Shadow decided to capitalise on the development.

"He means you no harm. But, if the Government finishes him as a weapon, he will possess no self will anymore- which is why both the Sonic Team and Team Dark are protecting him." Shadow said solemnly. "We think that today's performance shows he is capable of fighting Eggman anyway."

The crowd murmured some more. Faust bristled. He knew that Shadow's explanation was an outright lie- but he couldn't see it. It was disquieting for the bat.

"To that end…We want you citizens of Station Square to support us in Faust's right to life. Do not help the Government to capture him; we, Team Dark, will guarantee that he is safe to be amongst you. If he isn't, then we ourselves will hand him in to the authorities."

Faust glared at the hedgehog. He couldn't tell if Shadow was lying or not. But, somehow, he couldn't put it past the ebony hedgehog. Still, the bat rebuked himself, it didn't matter. He didn't mean these people any harm, and if he kept from hurting them, he would be safe.

"However. Let it be known to all that if the Government comes and demands him, Team Dark will destroy anyone who threatens him. Is that clear?" Shadow finished, adding a touch of ice to the final sentence. The crowd collectively nodded.

After they had dispersed, a little old lady walked up. She smiled at Faust, and took one of his hands in her own.

"I remember you, sonny. Near the train station. You were badly hurt. I didn't believe it at the time, but here you are. I support you. When you're as old as me, you can see if people are good or not from their eyes. Your eyes are scary, but good. Keep your chin up, son."

With that, she shuffled away. Faust said nothing. In his mind, a single thought bubbled up and spread across him with perfect clarity. He said it out loud, testing how it sounded:

"Human kindness and human cruelty are both unlimited."

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Phew. I'm actually rather tired now, and I fear that it'll show in my writing. It's a good thing that the fight scenes are coming to an end for a little while…That way, I can rest myself for the next big encounter. But don't think that it won't be exciting- there's a whole lot of intrigue and mystery afoot! Join me next time for chapter eleven- Games At Midnight!

…however, that chapter may be a little later than usual. You see, I have exams closing in, and I have to focus myself on revision for a while. Also, I want to refresh myself with two other stories I'm working on- Sunshine, a horror story, and Dude Where's My Watch, a comedy. If I get them finished, I'll post them up.


	11. Chapter 11 Games At Midnight Part One

Hmm…I'm pretty balled up in exams now, so story production is gonna be a little slower, and the chapter shorter. Hopefully, though, I'll still be able to give you something decent to read.

Anyway, as always, thanks for all the people who gave me much valued feedback on previous chapters. This is, finally, the end of the constant battle chapters, and we'll be settling into some more plot twists, turns and loop-de-loops. Shortly followed by some more action, heh heh.

At any rate, I must apologise for one thing: although I'm (apparently) a half-decent writer, I'm not a very good editor, so my stuff traditionally has some typos, words missing, etcetera. I apologise both for that, and for the fact my keyboard is now quite old and quite fragile, and is indeed becoming less than reliable. Basically, sometimes, when I hit the keys, it doesn't register. If this causes any typos or whatnot that disrupt the flow and quality of my work, I sincerely apologise. (Btw, if anyone wants to, like, use my ascii chapter and scene dividers, feel free. I mean, they're not much, but I like them at least. And they don't seem to get all out of proportion on . Anyway, they're free to use, if ya want them.)

Now, back to the story!

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Chapter Eleven- Games At Midnight (Part One)

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By some unmentioned plan, the entire team, from Team Dark to Amy's 'prisoners', all went back to Tails' house to convene. Faust, Shadow, Rouge and Omega had slowly drifted together, and convened on the late train to Station Square. Amy, Tails, Cream and the unconscious Sonic had taken an earlier train. As Faust and Team Dark were boarding the train, a husky rumour began floating around the station that a strange, masked man had been found very, very unconscious by passers-by of the central plaza. However, within five minutes of being woken up, the man had seemingly disappeared.

After the train rides, the night was falling as gently as a feather upon the Mystic Ruins. Inside Tails' workshop, however, the electric lights never went out as the friends spun their tales to each other. Tails blushed and coughed his way through a retelling of the adventure at the spa, whilst Cream grinned devilishly. Amy beat her fists upon the table as she told of how she'd beaten the Piko Piko Warrior in one on one combat. Faust's golden eyes blazed as he recounted his battle against Eggman and the robot. Rouge couldn't be induced to say anything, but Omega boomed of how he'd shot many robots but found nothing of note. The bat winked at the robot, knowing that if she had told the story, Faust would have smelt- or, rather, saw- a rat immediately. Sonic seemed to be out for the night- Tails assured everyone that, aside for a mild headache, the hedgehog would be back to normal tomorrow. Shadow sat silently, his face as impassive as a totem pole. Eventually, everyone felt the tug of fatigue on their eyelids, and decided to go to sleep. Tails somehow produced sleeping bags and duvets for everyone barring Omega, who didn't particularly need them. (The genius fox had already cut and shaped a spare Tornado windscreen to replace his destroyed window, using the vast amount of tools in both his workshop and Omega's arms.) Tails, however, got a small surprise when he climbed into his (somewhat threadbare) bed, as Cream was already very snuggled up in it.

At eleven o' clock at night, with Tails safely relegated to the floor while Cream cuddled up in his bed, the house was full of the sound of slumber. All but two creatures were snoring peacefully. Omega's ever-vigilant eyes kept watch as Rouge picked her way through the sleeping figures, moving ever closer to Tails' computer.

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"Gentlemen, this is swiftly becoming an emergency. At exactly 7 PM, this clip was shown on national news." the president grimaced, pressing a button on the remote control. Shadow's face flickered onto the screen, staring at the members of the meeting as he spoke to the crowds of Station Square.

"Oswin. Tell me, what can we do about this mess?"

The general mused, his eyes still bloodshot from having been awoken from his sleep. He unconsciously pressed his fingers into a steeple.

"I'm afraid it was a clever ploy by Shadow, sir. It's created the association between the bat and Team Dark, but more importantly, the bat and the Sonic Team. We can't move against one without moving against the other, and the public won't stand for us hurting the Sonic Team in any way. They're too highly regarded as heroes. Not only that, but it's now unlikely that the public will give us any information regarding the bat. Unit 24 has successfully shown himself to be on the public's side by fighting against Eggman, so he'll naturally start to gain support." Oswin summarized. A hiss of angry whispers ran around the table.

"So, you're saying we can't do anything?" the president asked, one eyebrow arched.

"Not exactly, sir. It just means that any action we take will need to be discreet. We can't act in public anymore. Allowing for this…I've already got a plan." the general smiled. Already, his mind was racing towards thoughts of bonuses for his efforts.

"And what plan would this be?" This time, the voice was Goriah's. The words had a bitter undercurrent of anger.

The general clicked his fingers. The doors to the room were flung open. Standing in the doorway were three men, each dressed in the silent black uniform that the Government's special forces wore. Each of their faces were covered by a protective visor.

"Sir, this is Team Bravado, a crack force we assembled to help us take care of this little problem with as little notice as possible." Oswin smirked. "When they're done, the Sonic Team, Faust Unit 24, and Eggman will all be gone- and what's more, it'll look like an accident."

The three men marched into the room on a wave of Oswin's hand. They all stood straight, showing no weakness, like true soldiers.

"This is Marcus Barret. He was the man who got us the scans of E-123 Omega, and a top notch helicopter pilot. He had a run in with Team Dark only yesterday, and wants payback. He's an excellent sniper." Oswin explained. Under the visor, the man felt the sting of his broken nose.

"This is Edgar Allete. He's an explosives expert. From now on, he's going to be causing a few small booms in Station Square. He'll also be circulating the rumour that those booms are being caused by a terrorist organisation. It'll be a cover for us." Oswin nodded. The man stepped forwards, bowed, and retreated.

"And finally…This is Luca Montgomary. He's the best sharpshooter this side of the far east, and a pistol specialist. He helped to destroy a few robots in Eggman's attack." The next man stepped forwards.

"…I see. So. Your plan is to dispose of the targets under the cover of a terrorist organisation?" the president asked.

"Correct."

"…Do it. Meanwhile…Goriah. How has your progress been?"

Goriah stood up, his appalling hunch pronounced beneath the lab coat. His skin was a strange shade of grey. It seemed he hadn't showered in the last few days.

"We've been working around the clock. Production on the Faust 25 models is going smoothly. We've managed to complete the vital alterations to model Omega. On top of that, Project Karst is starting to come into realisation. After we've manufactured a custom machine cell for it, we'll be ready to finish the first model." Goriah said proudly.

The president was silent for a second, his face like granite. He flexed his fingers, and sighed.

"Goriah. Finish Project Karst's development phase, but do not begin production. Keep the Faust Model 25s ready to deploy."

The president stood up. Once again, his face took on the likeness of stone.

"Gentlemen. From this moment, all priorities must go to destroying the Sonic Team and Faust 24."

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Knuckles wiped his brow, and threw the last clod of dirt into place. With that, the Master Emerald was good and buried. He'd made good time; only a day, and he'd tunnelled his way under the mountain into one of the hollow pockets beneath it. He'd left the Master Emerald there, glinting peacefully, and gradually made his way back up the tunnel he'd made, before filling it once again with earth.

But, now it was done, the fiery guardian couldn't help but feel sad. He'd been guarding that emerald his entire life. In some ways, it was almost like an old friend- an old friend that he had risked his life and travelled the world many times for, and which had, occasionally, saved his life (and the planet) in return. It seemed a great shame to bid it farewell now.

Momentarily, he regretted his selfish decision. But in his heart of hearts, he knew the real reason why he had done what he had done. The lure of a new life was attractive, yes, but in the back of his mind, the echidna had realised his own mortality. He was the last echidna, the last guardian. If he had allowed things to go on as they were, not only would he have been miserable, but the Master Emerald would be completely unprotected when he died. He wasn't ageless like the Master Emerald, but the mountain was. It would guard the gem when he was gone.

Now, the echidna trudged towards his island, his Herculean effort also bringing massive fatigue. He would sleep there, for one last time, and he would reflect on his life, and the life that was yet to be his.

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Rouge tried to refrain from tapping her fingers impatiently as the computer booted up. She had already made the precaution of turning the computer's speakers off. As she watched, a huge, orange welcoming screen filled the monitor, proudly displaying the logo of Tails' custom made operating system, FlyerFox. Rouge suppressed a grin when she saw it. After a few seconds more loading time, the password entry screen popped up, and with it, Rouge's first challenge.

"Password protection…Damn. What would Fox Boy's password be?" Rouge muttered. He fingers became blurs as she threw in all the likely combinations- Tails, tails, Cream, cream, Sonic, Tornado, all the things that Rouge thought might have occurred to the two-tailed genius. Again and again, the error screen buzzed up in her face. Each time, Rouge took it as a challenge.

"Damn you, Fox Boy. But I'm not giving up! I always get what I want!"

She kept typing, throwing in any word of significance, whilst racking her brains for hints of Tails' password. The bat never forgot things that lead to a chance to fill her own pockets (or data banks). And, as always, her burglar's brain came up with the answer.

"My password is pretty much unguessable. It doesn't even have words or numbers in it. No one would think of trying it." Tails had said.

Rouge smirked, realising the meaning of it. Only Tails would have thought of something that brilliantly simple. Laughing silently, Rouge clicked the space bar five times in succession, then pressed enter. Immediately, the machine began to hum and whir as it booted up the fox's desktop. Taking a moment to admire the fox's wallpaper (a picture of the entire Sonic Team taken in front of an amusement park, wherein Cream was draped around Tails' neck whilst everybody else laughed), Rouge began to snoop through the folders dotted here and there across the desktop. She looked through them quickly, trusting her thief's instincts to tell her if there was something valuable there. As she closed yet another stash of documents, one folder caught her eye. She looked at the title incredulously.

"DEFINATELYNOTPORN? That's what he called the folder? For a genius, Tails is pretty dumb. I mean, Shadow calls his slrigdekantoh- at least he has the sense to write it backwards…Why does Tails have porn on his computer, anyway? Sigh…I guess all men are the same, no matter how high their IQ…" Rouge grumbled. She double-clicked on the folder, expecting there to be some juicy blackmail material within. To Rouge's dismay, hundreds of rich text files popped up. She opened one, and it wasn't even remotely saucy. It was a plan for a new project Tails was starting. Rouge groaned again.

"Sigh…Just like Tails to NOT actually have porn in there. I guess he really is as innocent as I thought he was." she muttered, closing the folder.

After another fifteen minutes of searching, Rouge found what she was looking for. Now knowledgeable about Tails' misleading folder names, she found a transcript of Faust's data in a folder called 'Mariosmagicmushrooms'. She jammed her USB stick into the side port, and quickly copied the data to it with a smirk. Now she had all she needed to get that Chaos Emerald, and Omega's blueprints- and Fox Boy would be none the wiser. Tails probably wouldn't even expect a betrayal- he was always a little too naïve for Rouge's tastes. A nagging impulse made her stop before shutting the computer down as her thief's instincts whirred into motion. Wondering why she was even bothering, she copied and pasted DEFINATELYNOTPORN into her memory stick, and then ejected it before shutting down the computer.

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Faust awoke at the break of dawn, the sunlight dancing across his eyelids and rousing him from sleep. It seemed that he was the first one up, and all around him sleeping bags moved gently up and down as their occupants snored gently. A rumble from his belly told the bat it was time for breakfast. Casually, he slotted two pieces of bread into the toaster, as he had seen Tails do before. Then, he wandered into the workshop proper, once more casting his scouring eyes across Tails' myriad inventions. Some were incredible technological marvels, and others were just things that occupied Tails' imagination on long winter nights. As he looked around, the bat couldn't help but feel akin to some of the great machines dotted around the workshop. He could feel the metal in his arms and legs, and even for someone who had never known anything else, it still felt unnatural. But then, the bat thought, I'm hardly natural anyway.

The bat's tour of the workshop was interrupted by a ringing alarm that pierced him to the very marrow. His ears pounding from the barrage of noise, Faust tried to move back towards the others, but a deluge of water started to come from the workshop ceiling. By the time he'd gotten out, Faust's grey hair was hanging limply over his golden eyes. When he returned to the living room, everybody was up, and Tails was trying desperately to vent the smoke pouring out of the toaster. Faust felt a plethora of eyes glaring at him as he stomped over to give Tails a hand.

After the breakfast fiasco was successfully dealt with, and Tails had explained to Faust that cooking toast was a difficult and dangerous endeavour that he shouldn't try again for a while, the rest of the Sonic Team started to look a little more vibrant as their bodies woke up. Rouge, who in truth had never been asleep, discreetly slipped her memory stick into a gap in Omega's plating. The robot looked at her with what Rouge thought to be a mechanical smile. The others busied themselves with succeeding where Faust had failed, and making some edible breakfast. Cream took charge of the eggs, quickly shelling them and plopping them into the frying pan with a knob of butter, frying up a mammoth omelette for her friends. Shadow, showing off tricks he'd learned from being a street magician, pulled a whole washed tablecloth from out of his glove, and whipped it onto the table. Sonic took care of the cutlery, and Amy started beating together flour, eggs and water for pancakes. Tails and Faust disappeared into the fox's workshop, and, with the help of a three loaves of bread, a washing line and a pair of flamethrowers, cooked up an express order of toast.

For a few brief minutes, the sounds of knives and forks scraping plates filled the house. Faust tried everything, and found that although he could live without omelette, toast and pancakes were much to his liking. Still, he devoured even Cream's eggy delicacy with voracious speed. He hadn't noticed it, but he needed to refuel after the day he'd had yesterday. Sonic too snaffled his foodstuffs eagerly. Cream ate with polite moderation, as she'd always been taught by her mother, and Tails picked at his food in an almost scientific manner. Amy ate little, citing a diet (Sonic coughed huskily at this point), and Rouge and Shadow's food just seemed to disappear. As soon as they were all sated, the discussion turned to the situation at hand.

"Faust. You should be able to go out freely in Station Square now. The townspeople won't hand you in…whether out of loyalty to Sonic or fear of me, it doesn't matter." Shadow pointed out, a grin cracking across his face.

"Yeah. I guess it should be safe there." Faust agreed. Internally, he wasn't so sure. His guard was still well and truly up. So far, there was no place in the world that he'd felt safe.

"Hey, I've an idea. What about Chaotix?" Tails chipped in. An appreciative murmur circled the table.

"That's an excellent idea, Tails. I'll drop in on Vector and company later today. We can have them investigate the Government's plans. Chaotix can handle themselves." Shadow confirmed.

"Hey, Shadow, honey, why don't we drop by my place while we're at it? I need to go over a few things…" Rouge motioned vaguely. Faust was looking at her strangely, but didn't say anything. Shadow just nodded.

"Well, Sonic and I are going on a date. After all, Sonic…You owe me for getting you out of trouble." Amy pouted. A still-throbbing bump on the blue hedgehog's head said differently, but Sonic wisely kept his mouth shut.

"As for me, I'm going to check out how Knuckles is doing. If we're lucky, I can talk him into letting Faust stay on Angel Island for a while. It's nice and secluded. In addition, we all know that Chaos sometimes appears there, and Chaos is enough to scare anyone off." Tails nodded.

"Oh, that's a good idea. We can drop by the Chao garden and pick up Cheese. He's getting on a bit now, but I'm sure he could talk to Chaos on our behalf. I'll go with you, Tails." Cream smiled. Tails beat away a hint of a blush and nodded again.

"I'll go back to Station Square, then. I can look around, and try and help some people out for some good press." Faust smirked. He also wanted to check out the rubble, and see what really happened to the Piko Piko warrior.

As the group started to split into their respective partnerships (Omega remained in Tails' laboratory for a system diagnostic), Cream turned to Faust and smiled.

"Remember…Midnight, above my house. Here's a map." she said, tucking a piece of paper into his hand, where it was aptly camouflaged by bandages. Faust nodded, and groaned. Whatever was going on, he was almost completely certain it was going to get him hurt.

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Well, it was a short chapter, but keeping in mind my schedule, it means that you guys actually have something to read. Like I said, I'm balled up in exams- in fact, I had one this very afternoon. It was a Religious Educations exam, if you must know (I go to a Catholic school, which explains why I'm so into Science). Not only that, but I have a billion ideas jumping at me, begging for my attention- from a retelling of Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (I decided I wanted a challenge), to a horror story that's languished in my computer for almost a year, I'm going to be working myself ragged.

Anyway, here's hoping you'll be back to enjoy Games At Midnight, Part Two (whenever I have spare time in which to write it). It'll be somewhat more exciting than this chapter, I promise.


	12. Chapter 12: Games At Midnight Part Two

Well, here, in the break between exams, I'm writing the 12th chapter of Faust the Bat, which, as I said, is a mite more exciting than the 11th. In all the spare time from my exams, I've been working out the plot and the dialogue for this chapter so it flows a little better. So, without further ado, I welcome you to…

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Chapter 12- Games At Midnight (Part Two)

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The office was in its usual state of disarray, with books, files and scrolls piled all over every conceivable surface- except the worn desk that dominated the centre of the room. It was decorate with what, to an innocent bystander, might have looked like modern art, but was actually an uncannily artistic collection of coffee stains. A single lightbulb was swaying to and fro from the ceiling, trying vainly to illuminate the dingy office.

"Hey, Charmy! What would you do if you were rich?"

Vector issued the question to nowhere in particular. As usual, the crafty crocodile had money on his formidable mind. He sighed, and put his feet up on the desk, waiting for someone or something to answer him. The beat from his headphones pulsed through the office, even though he wasn't wearing them.

"Huh? Me?"

Charmy popped his head out of the filing cabinet where he had, apparently, been hiding. Vector decided that it probably wasn't worth asking why.

"Yes, you. How many other Charmies do I know?" Vector snapped.

"If I were rich, huh…Oh, I know!" In an excited rush of energy, the bee burst from the filing cabinet and began buzzing around Vector's head- just slightly out of range of the crocodile's long arms. "I would get Tails to build a robotic version of me! And a robot version of Espio! And, and, and, if we pressed a button, they'd go 'PSSSCHUU' and transform and combine! And we'd call it the incredible Mecha Charmio, and it would fire shuriken from its eyes and fly around at over 9000 miles an hour, and, and, and-"

"If I were rich…I would fund the surgery to get Charmy's vocal chords removed." Espio grinned, phasing back into view. He had been leaning against the wall, concealed by his leaf swirl and his chameleon ability to change colour. Vector barked a short, sharp laugh, whilst metaphorical steam issued from Charmy's ears.

"Hey! That's mean! I'd use it for something really cool, but you'd just use it to annoy me!" Charmy scowled. The bee was now as tall as Espio, and it was his habit to move around by flying with his feet just brushing against the floor.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. Annoying people is your job, isn't it?" Espio smirked.

"Guys, guys, guys! Before we start arguing about what we'd do if we were rich, we have to actually get rich first! Charmy, go check the mail, will ya?" Vector said, bringing the argument to an instant end. As the bee drifted away, muttering obscenities under his breath, Vector wondered how he had gotten to this stage in his life. By the time Charmy returned, he had concluded that he should have followed his mother's advice and become a car insurance salesman.

"We got a job offer, boss. Some woman wants us to tail her husband to see if he's cheating." Charmy said airily.

"What, again? It's probably just another guy going to another poker night." Espio grumbled.

"Who cares? There's this thing called 'rent', Espio, and we haven't paid it. We need any job we can get." Vector said, waving Espio's reluctance aside.

"Hmph. Who said detective work was glamorous? Oh, wait. It was you, wasn't it, Vector? 'Come on, Espio, join my detective agency! We'll be raking in the big boys hand over fist!' Whatever happened to that?" Espio challenged, unsatisfied with Vector's motivation.

"I think _life_ happened to that, Espio." Charmy chimed in.

A tired silence fell on the three detectives. They'd had this argument before, and they all knew it was pointless. The quiet continued until the tension in the air had fully dissipated.

"Well…I think I'd better do this mission. I'm our stealth operative, after all. I don't think Charmy's good at not being noticed." Espio scoffed. This time, the bee offered no rebuke- every stealth mission he had tried had ended badly.

"That's the spirit, Espio. It's times like this that I'm glad to have you on my side." Vector said, a thin smile stretched across his maw. He stood up, and took the file from Charmy.

"Hmph. Well, isn't this a happy little scene."

The dusky voice came from the hallway, and Shadow followed shortly after it, his long cloak wafting up clouds of dust from the floor.

"Well, if it isn't Shadow! What're you doing here in West City?" Vector asked, sitting down again and clonking his heels back onto the table. He liked to look a figure of authority.

"I'll give you a clue." Shadow smirked. He flicked his hand, and something shot across the room. Reacting quickly, Espio dove to the floor and tossed a kunai along the object's trajectory. His aim was perfect as always, and the kunai speared it straight through and stuck it to the ceiling.

"Hey…Wait…That's a hundred dollar bill!" Vector gasped in amazement. Charmy shot up to the ceiling and retrieved the precious money, but it had a big, kunai shaped hole in it. It was worthless. Vector's face fell.

"Don't worry. There's plenty more where that came from." Shadow smirked, pulling a purse from the folds of his cloak.

"…Uh…Shadow? Why do you have a purse? A purple purse?" Charmy asked, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Shadow scowled.

"It's Rouge's. When she next looks in her handbag, she'll find a pack of cards and a thank-you note." Shadow explained, faintly annoyed that his dramatic entrance had been interrupted. He checked himself quickly. Being annoyed over entrances was something Sonic would do.

"So…Tell me, Shadow. How much is 'plenty'?" Vector asked slyly, licking his scaly lips.

"'Plenty' is enough to buy this office, never mind rent it." Shadow smirked. With a certain satisfaction, he saw the infamous dollar signs settle into Vector's eyes.

"How do we get our hands on this money of yours?" Espio asked, his brow furrowed. From the chameleon's experience, if something seemed too good to be true, it usually was.

"Well, you're detectives. You'll have to do some…detecting. Are you aware of the recent news report detailing one Faust the bat?" Shadow asked, leaning forwards.

"Yeah, we heard it on the radio. You were in it, weren't you?" Vector replied, making a steeple of his fingers. His manner was brusque, businesslike.

"Indeed. But, that report was almost entirely false. The bat in question _is _a government weapon, and they do wish to destroy him, but…If he was designed to fight Eggman, I'll eat my shoes. However, we have found evidence that he was designed to fight Sonic." Shadow explained, idly playing with a coin that he had in his right hand. He walked it up and down his fingers, before spinning it and palming it again.

"Hmm? A government weapon? To destroy Sonic? Why?" This time, it was Charmy asking the question. Shadow smiled at him indulgently.

"That's exactly what I was wondering. I need you to find out what the Government's plans are, and why they want Sonic, and possibly the rest of us, dead. Do that for me, and the money's yours…And I'll have Tails do a little advertising for you." Shadow smiled. Instantly, images of huge sky banners being towed by the Tornado flashed across Vector's mind. They'd never be at a loss for a job again.

"I'm not sure, Vector." Espio muttered. "It sounds like a high-risk assignment."

"It's either that or tailing poker nights. You want to be doing chump work for the rest of your life?" Vector grunted.

"I see your point." Espio mumbled.

"Well, then. If you guys are done muttering, shall we accept the job?" Charmy asked, getting straight to the point as always.

"Hang on, hang on. We have to discuss payment plans." Vector grinned. "We're gonna need some of that cash in advance, Shadow ol' buddy."

Shadow looked unimpressed, but took out a wad of notes from the purse and peeled a few off, watching Vector's face. The more notes he peeled off, the wider Vector's grin became. Smiling, Shadow stopped peeling off the notes and watched Vector's grin turn sour. Sighing, he tossed the rest of the wad on the table.

"You'll get the rest after you bring us some results." the hedgehog motioned, starting to walk out of the room. If he had bothered to turn around, he would have seen Vector count the money and faint.

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Tails smiled as Cheese ran up to greet his owner. Cream squealed and picked him up, whilst Cheese squeaked and mewed and generally made all noises that a chao likes to make when it's overjoyed. The delight was etched on Cream's face indelibly, as it always was when she visited Cheese. At first, when the onset of old age had started to wear down Cheese's ability to flutter around Cream's head all day, Cream had visited him at least once every day, sometimes as many as four times. As Cheese had settled into the garden, however, she started to visit him less, knowing that the amicable pack structure of chao society would mean he was well cared for. As she twittered into the chao's ear, telling him how much his wings had grown and how glad she was to see him, Tails nonchalantly leant against the wall and waited patiently. Tails had never really had time to raise a chao, although he had heard that Amy had tried her hand at raising chao from time to time. He was more interested in mechanical things than small, round animals. But he could see why Cream preferred her faithful Cheese over Tails' noisy Tornado.

Sighing, he grabbed a fruit and threw it casually to a chao that had started tugging at one of his tails. It was a pedigree chao, black with blue rings. It squeaked in pleasure, but left the fruit alone. Instead, it tried to climb up Tails' legs. Laughing, he picked it off and put it on the floor, patting the floating ball over its head. The creature's interest quickly waned, and it rushed off to jump into the water with its equally round friends. Tails noticed, with a hint of irony, how very useless chao would be in the wild. Their wilful curiosity and lack of natural aggression meant they would quickly be reduced to a light snack for some of the more fearsome predators. The only defence that the chao had was that incredible lovability. And it was probably a good thing, too- the natural, wholesome instinct to love chao had probably saved many lives. With Chaos as their guardian god, purposefully hurting a chao was pretty much inviting disaster. Some cultures even went so far as to say that to kill a chao was suicide, because Chaos was bound to hunt you down. Tails couldn't help to shiver at the thought that there was a chance he'd be meeting the god that very afternoon.

Lost in his thoughts, Tails didn't notice that Cream and Cheese were waiting for him at the entrance to the garden. A particularly urgent squeak from Cheese brought Tails back to his senses. Blushing, he joined them. Cheese was perched on Cream's shoulder, like a parrot. It seemed like the miracle of chao rebirth hadn't yet happened for the chao, and Cheese was still languishing in old age. Cream didn't care.

They reached the tunnel leading to the cliff where Angel Island was moored more quickly than Tails had expected. Cream chattered to the fox excitedly, translating the stories that Cheese had told her into rambling anecdotes of life in the Chao Garden. When Cheese was around, Cream's face just seemed to light up and she became more and more active and happy. Tails had once likened the effect to a drug- too long without Cheese would give Cream withdrawal symptoms.

As they reached Angel Island, the sounds of nature started to bubble up from around them. Mystic Ruins was the most natural place Tails knew of, but even within that haven, Angel Island seemed like a sanctuary for all things green and alive. Even though Knuckles never seemed to be doing any gardening (Tails couldn't imagine him with rubber gloves and a trowel, somehow), there was always a multitude of plant life growing there.

"Hey, Knuckles! You here?" Tails called. He waited a few moments, waiting for his reply. Just as he made his mind up to fly up and get a bird's eye view of the situation, a string of grumpy curses issued from behind a nearby bush. Knuckles crawled out of it, looking highly dishevelled. His dreadlocks were in knots, and the white crescent moon on his chest looked fuzzier than normal.

"What do you want, Tails? I only just got up!" Knuckles asked, letting a gravely edge slip into his voice.

"Hey, Knuckles. Sorry to wake you up, but we need a favour. Can you please help us out?" Cream asked in that sweet way that only she could manage.

"What would you guys want from me?" Knuckles asked suspiciously. Sonic often played tricks on Knuckles to see if he was still as gullible as ever, and Knuckles had eventually grown a little warier about trusting people- although he hadn't really gotten any smarter.

"You remember Faust?" Tails asked, needlessly. He would have been surprised if Knuckles had forgotten that easily.

"Yeah. Bit frail, but he could throw a punch. What about him?" Knuckles asked, collapsing cross-legged on the floor. He invited Tails and Cream to do the same, and they obliged, albeit with a small amount more grace than him.

"Well, as you know, the Government are after him. Aside from my house, this is pretty much the safest place we know. If needs be, could he crash here?" Tails asked.

"Sure, although I don't even know why you bothered asking. If needs be, you'd do it anyway." Knuckles grinned. Tails grinned back, but there was a strange tightness to his smile. Cream watched the fox's face closely.

"…Hmm? Is there something else?"

"Well…Err…You have a Chaos Emerald buried around here, don't you, Knuckles?"

"Yeah. Why do you want it?" Knuckles retorted, his suspicion showing in his voice.

"Well…I'm doing a little research on them at the moment, and I want to do some tests on yours." Tails explained. Cream frowned, watching the fox.

"You've got one, right? The topaz. I remember how happy you were when you tracked it down, because it reminded you of when you finally started being able to cope without Sonic there on your adventures. What happened to it?" If echidnas had hackles, Knuckles' were definitely raised.

"I did some tests on it, but I need to see if the other emeralds will react differently. Can you lend me yours for…I don't know, two days? That should be enough time for the machine to analyse it." Tails said nervously. Cream looked at him, hard. Her fists clenched.

"Yeah, Knuckles. It'll only be for a little while." the rabbit offered sweetly. But tails recognised the strain in her voice.

"Hmph…Well, wait right there. I'll dig it up." Knuckles grumbled. Tails wiped his brow.

"Excellent. That reminds me…Cream, can you ask Cheese if Chaos is anywhere in the area?"

Cheese shook its head, and glared at Tails, as if to say 'Look. I understand English. How do you think Cream talks to me, anyway?' The rebuke was swiftly felt, and Tails apologized. The sun felt warm and strong on the fox's pelt as he and Cream watched Knuckles dig.

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Faust's footsteps echoed around the base as he ran, panting for breath. A man had died. A man had died to save him. The doctor, with the son called Edward. It was the first death. The first of many.

_The thoughts tumbled through the bat's head. It was natural. Even for a weapon, death was a stark and chilling thing. But, as natural as it may have been to be absorbed by the thoughts, it was also a mistake. Before long, the bat was lost in the labyrinth of tunnels in the base._

_Conscious of the soldiers that were dogging his every footstep, he picked his directions randomly. Lead them on a wild goose chase. Don't get caught. Keep fighting for the chance of a life. The doctor. Faust shook like a dog, batting away the thoughts like flies. But it was too late. He'd made a mistake. There were no more junctions. Only a door in front, and soldiers behind. The bat didn't hesitate, but flung himself into the room. _

_As the soldiers rounded the corner, they saw the bat disappear into the room. A few of them laughed. One even felt sorry for the bat. None followed. He hadn't seen the sign. It was a small sign, handwritten, in Goriah's chilling script._

'_Dangerous Specimen Containment Room'_

_Faust slammed the door behind him, instinctively diving to the floor to avoid any bullets. None came. If he had checked, the bat would have noticed that the door didn't open from the inside. what he did notice was the smell. The room was dimly lit, full of boxes- a cardboard jungle. The smell of decay hung around the place like a fog. Once or twice as he moved forwards, Faust's boot came down on bone. He froze each time, his hair prickling. Then slowly, cautiously, he would inch forwards again, eventually breaking back into his flowing run. _

_The room was enormous by the standards of the rest of the base. It took almost five minutes to run across to the far end. Along the way, there were cages- broken, empty- and more bones. A sense of peril was beginning to descend upon the black bat. Had he run into a dead end? A dead end full of skeletons and cages? He looked around swiftly, glad there was no sound to cause him blindness. At last, he saw it- a vent, on the ceiling. It would be a long, arduous crawl, but it would lead him to the upper levels, and maybe to an escape. Faust grinned. Goriah would regret having made him with wings. He beat them powerfully, gently taking off from the cold, steel floor. Controlling his altitude with a grace he hadn't known he had, he inspected the vent carefully. Only four screws, and not reinforced in any way. He readied a punch, blue light flashing beneath the bandages that the doctor had wrapped around his hands. _

_Before the punch could land, the bat was jerked rudely out of the air. Something had wrapped itself around his leg, and it now threw him into the wall. He hit headfirst. For a moment, all was blackness, and there was a strange, electrical crackle. Then, the bat opened his eyes, and saw his assailant. It was blue, with a body that wobbled and had a strange sheen, like jelly or mucus. The head was made of exposed bone, with two evil little eyes glaring at him from the centre of the face. It had a mouth, but no teeth. The mouth wasn't designed for eating. The bat didn't know it yet, and wouldn't know it for a long time. But, the creature he faced now was known as Artificial Chaos._

_It attacked with a speed and ferocity that Faust had not known existed, throwing out blue, whiplike tendrils to attack him. The bat beat his wings, raising himself off the ground and avoiding the tendrils by a whisker. He shot forwards, but he hadn't reckoned on the tendrils being able to change direction in midair. The first caught his left leg in a vicegrip. The second arced upwards, aiming for-_

_Faust howled in agony as he felt the tendril punch a hole through his right wing. It had missed the delicate bones that kept his wings together, but the damage to the leathery skin was still done. Before he could even turn his head, the tendril had whipped out of his wing again, and grabbed his right arm. With a jolt, Faust realised the ploy. He could still squirm, but he couldn't escape. He was trapped. _

_If the creature could smile, it was smiling now. It moved slowly, gently, savouring. It wasn't just a predator. It had killed for fun. Now Faust knew where all the bones had come from. Panicking, Faust threw a punch with his free arm, aiming for the head. But the creature simply moved its head backwards, keeping its base where it was. The punch his that strange, blue goo-like substance. It wobbled for a moment, but there was no damage, no movement- no nothing. Faust's velocity punches, as he had nicknamed them (a nickname he was to change later) had no effect._

_The creature grinned at him. Then, it opened its gaping maw. For a split second, Faust saw a strange, yellow green light building up in its watery throat. Then, the light came pouring through the creature's mouth, towards him. His left arm raised to block it automatically. But a lot of it got through, and every place where the light touched was bathed in pure agony. When his eyes had stopped screaming in pain, he looked at his left arm. The bandages had been scorched right off his hand. Desperately, he threw another punch. And another. And a third. No good. The creatures just wobbled like jelly. It seemed to be enjoying it. Faust groaned. To the creature, all these punches were like a complimentary massage. 'Thanks for killing me. Here's a token of my gratitude', the bat thought bitterly. The light was starting to build up in its throat again. Another blast like that would be the end of him. Struggling, twisting, squirming, fighting for his life, Faust lashed out with one final punch._

_At once, roaring agony poured from the bat's hand. There was far too much energy. The bandages had reduced circulation, keeping the energy contained in his body, but no, with no bandages and fighting for his life, the energy had built up into a massive discharge. The bat howled. The energy was ripping his hand apart. He saw spurts of his own blood fly, felt the blue light rend his skin, searching for his target. The blow connected with the creature's jelly body, but this time, there was no bounce. There was penetration, there was give. His hand kept moving, not against, but through- and broke through the other side. The creature seemed almost stunned as its head landed on the floor, cut off from the rest of its body. In a second, Faust's boot exacted revenge for the pain it had delivered to him. _

_Faust groaned. He ran a quick full-systems diagnostic. A lot of his battle data had been lost, probably from when his head had crashed against the wall. That would have been the electrical crackle he heard. But the new development still confused him. Faust units weren't supposed to be able to cut things. They weren't supposed to discharge so much energy it hurt them. What was going on?_

_Grimacing, he put the thoughts to the back of his mind. There was a vent up there, a way to freedom. With his right wing damaged, he couldn't fly to it. But he'd find a way. He'd keep fighting for his life until he won._

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Tails walked along the path, feeling pleased with himself. He held the red emerald in his hand. The chaos energy seemed to rush around inside like a burning fire. It was, to be sure, beautiful. But, something troubled the fox. It was the quiet. Neither Cream nor Cheese had made a sound since they left Angel Island.

"Tails, stop. We need to talk." Cream said, her voice unexpectedly stern. She sounded like her mother.

"Hmm?" Tails turned around, and saw both Cream and Cheese looking at him harshly. He gulped. He was in trouble.

"Tell me, Tails. Why did you lie to Knuckles about that Emerald?" Cream asked. Her tone of voice grabbed at Tails' heart.

"What do you mean? I didn't…"

"I know you, Tails. Your left tail always flicks when you lie." Cream said, accusingly. Tails sighed. He'd be caught.

"I can't tell you why, Cream…For your sake as well as mine. If it doesn't work, then I don't know what'll happen." the fox said in a melancholy tone.

"If what doesn't work?" Cream asked, her cocoa eyes filled with curiosity. Strangely, she didn't look angry.

"…"

Tails looked at Cream then, and wished he hadn't. She looked hurt. Stung. Let down. He lowered his head in shame.

"My…My mother told me that men…men who lie, and keep secrets…men like that aren't even worth being friends with." Cream said, quietly. She was almost sobbing. It was too much for Tails. Sonic had told him that it was the worst thing in the world to make a girl cry. He walked towards her, and hugged her gently, feeling her tremble. Then, he bent his mouth to her long ear, and whispered urgently. Cream's eyes widened. Her tremors stopped. And, strangest of all, her mouth broke into a wide smile.

"You…You can do that?" She asked at last, her eyes bright.

"I don't know. I think so. I don't want to get your hopes up, but I found traces in my emerald when I analysed it." Tails explained. He felt released, now his secret was told.

"That's brilliant, Tails! We need to collect the rest of the emeralds, as quick as possible! I'll tell the others and-"

"No!" Tails' voice cut across her like a knife across a sail, taking all the wind out of her step. "I can't face the others if this goes wrong. We can't tell them. And besides, I still need to work on the machine so it can store the data correctly. If we rush, we'll bring attention to ourselves. Let's just take it easy, and collect the emeralds as and when it's convenient. Then, we can let them go- we don't need the actual emeralds for the process, just the data."

Cream nodded. Cheese did too. They both understood how much it meant to the fox. How very much.

"Okay…This is our little secret, right?" Cream giggled. "I'm so excited!"

"Yep…Our little secret." Tails winked.

"…Oh, wait! The sun's going down! Sorry, Tails, I have to be somewhere!" Cream said, giving him a hug. Then, with a flap of her ears, she was in the air, and heading at high speed towards the train station. Tails watched her go with curiosity. But, he trusted her. More than anyone.

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Faust awoke from his dream with a sheen of cold sweat across his brow. It was so vivid. Sighing, he got up from the deckchair. The other people at the beach had long gone, and the sun was setting into the ocean. The only ones left were him, and a few of the more demonstrative couples.

It had been a good day. He'd explored Station Square, and found himself at the beach. It had been warm and relaxed, and the people looked at him as if he belonged. The children in particular liked him. He'd played with them. He'd chased them up and down the golden sands, laughing as they tried to avoid the water. He'd thrown a Frisbee with them, until a dog caught it and ran off with it. He'd been buried up to his neck in sand, and then he'd burst from the tomb with a quick flap of his wings, causing laughter all round. A nice man gave him a piece of watermelon, and he ate it hastily, not realising he was getting it all over his face. A boy had taught him how to spit the seeds so they went straight and far. And then, he had flopped down in the deckchair for a rest, and the efforts of the day and the sun on his fur tempted him into slumber. It had been an excellent day.

But, nevertheless, the bat was happier now the sun was going down. He was a bat, a creature of the night. The darkness was his friend. It surrounded him with its cool arms, protecting him, nurturing him. Pausing under the lights of the hotel, he took Cream's map out of his pocket. After brushing the sand away, he looked at it carefully. Cream's house was quite close to the centre of town. It wasn't a house, strictly speaking- more an apartment in a skyscraper. And Cream had said to meet her on the roof at midnight. It was a good plan. There weren't many people who could fly to the top of a skyscraper, after all, and Faust just so happened to be one of them.

Beating his wings, he started to make his way through the night air to the place marked on the map. Eventually, after checking his surroundings several times, he found the right building. He landed gently, careful of waking anyone inside. Then, he sat down, looking out over the sleeping city, and waiting for midnight.

The moon clambered laboriously up into the night sky as Faust let his mind go over recent events. Things were finally looking up for him. For the first time since he had escaped from the military base, it seemed like he had a real, concrete chance of building a normal life. Maybe the doctor's life hadn't been in vain, after all. Faust smiled. One day, when he was safe, he'd find the doctor's son, and do something to try and pay back his debt. It was only right.

"Faust?"

Cream's voice snapped Faust out of his reverie. His eyes opened to a blank white space where Cream appeared as clearly as day, but where nothing else existed. Then, his eyes returned to normal, and he got up to walk across to her.

"Yes. I remembered." he said quietly.

"Thank you…Anyway, I want to make this quick. Faust…What do you know about love?" Cream asked sweetly.

"…What? How is that relevant?" Faust spluttered.

"I'll take that as a 'not much'." Cream smiled. She seemed to think it was cute in some way.

"Just say what you want me to do." Faust said, quickly losing patience.

"Yup…You and Shadow are pretty alike." Cream murmured. Faust shot her a dark look.

"Well…I want you…To find out who Rouge loves." Cream said sweetly.

Faust stood in silence for a second. He hadn't really been expecting that. Rouge? Was she even capable of love? That strange, all consuming emotion that seemed completely alien to Faust's mind?

"Y'see…Me and Amy think that if we don't…Y'know…Step in, and give Rouge a hand…She'll never be able to get a man she likes and keep him. She's just that kind of person." Cream explained. It was just like her- doing things for all the right reasons.

"…And who, do you think, are the prime suspects?" Faust asked, his eyebrow twitching.

"Well…We think it's between Shadow, and Knuckles…" Cream giggled, seeing the look on Faust's face.

"Shadow? Knuckles? I can't imagine either of them being 'in love'…But I'll see what I can do." Faust muttered.

"Thank you, Faust." Cream smiled. "You don't have to, but you'd be helping me and Amy out, and Rouge as well."

Faust merely nodded. He had been expecting something difficult. He might get a few bruises if he asked it straight out- he remembered Rouge's reaction to his silicon comment- but it wouldn't be too hard to extract the answer.

"Well…Shall we go? You should probably go back to Tails' workshop. The train runs all hours. My house is…Well, a couple stories below us, so I don't think I need you to walk me home." Cream giggled.

Faust nodded, and spread his wings. With one last look at the rabbit, he flew off the rooftop.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Phew…It's been a strange night." Faust thought, as he glided gently down to the pavement. As he touched down, he heard a pair of voices whispering. His vision cut out. He couldn't really move blind- he might walk into the road- so he stayed where he was. He looked around for the sources of the whispers, and saw, in his truth-stained vision, the figures of Rouge and a very familiar, very fat man.

A flurry of thoughts shot through the bat's head. On one hand, Rouge might be in danger. She might need help. On the other hand…It was night. She was a bat, too. This was her element. And she could handle herself- he still had bruises to prove that. She would be more than a match for that fat human. With that, the decision was made. There was no reason to help her. She could take care of it.

And so it would have ended. Faust would have waited for the conversation to end, and then, his sight restored, quietly flown home. That was what would have happened, if it weren't for one particularly loud snippet of the conversation that drifted into the black bat's ears.

"So, Doctor…Here are the plans for Faust 24, and you have the emerald and Omega's blueprints…I'll give the plans to you first. You know that if you pull anything funny, I'll drop you and take everything, right?"

It was Rouge's voice. Rouge's voice, selling his plans. A red cloud of rage fell across Faust's vision. He was being double-crossed, betrayed, sold out. He clenched his fists. He would stop this. And Rouge would pay.

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Well, there we are! The second part of Games At Midnight. There'll be a third part coming as soon as I've written it up. I'm hoping that this chapter was a little more exciting than the last- it certainly, in my opinion, has more food for thought. As always, thanks to my reviewers. I consider this story as much a product of your efforts as of mine.

As a side note, I don't know what you guys think, but I personally really enjoyed writing Chaotix in this story. They have a very interesting group dynamic.

Well, anyway…More next time. I'm hoping you come back for another slice of the action!

TheVulpineHero1


	13. Chapter 13: Games At Midnight Part Three

Well, it's a little late this time. It's been somewhat turbulent, so I beg your pardons on that. However, I've tried to work hard and bring the next chapter of Faust.

Anyway. This reminds me. I could use a little help with the story description that everyone sees before reading. I'm not terribly good at them, and I figure that if I could get a good one, it might entice more people to read, y'know? So, if anyone has any good ideas, please PM or review with them. Thanks!

Anyway, time to start the third (and last) part of the Games At Midnight.

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Chapter Thirteen: Games At Midnight (Part Three)

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Rouge looked at the Doctor warily. There had to be a trick somewhere. How could Eggman give her Omega's plans and a Chaos Emerald, just for some documents on Faust? It was too good to be true. As she eyed him, she noticed the thick wrinkles starting to form around the Doctor's forehead and eyes. He was getting old. Dr. Ivo Robotnik might try to rule the world, and he might have gotten close from time to time, but he could never rule time, and it was catching up with him. The many defeats, the stress of the battles, the countless hours toiling to build robots…It had all left its mark on Eggman's face.

"Well, Rouge. I suppose it's time to do the exchange." Eggman said. The lines around his face creased and sagged as he spoke.

"If you say so, Doc. How are we going to do this?"

"Walk towards me. Slowly. I'll give you the plans and the Emerald first, and then you hand over Faust's data."

A flicker of suspicion shot across Rouge's face for a moment. Why was he offering to exchange first? It didn't make sense. Did he have a trap in wait? Or…Was he double-bluffing? Tempting her to take the emerald and the plans and run? Had he prepared for that? Was it a test of trust? Knowing that if she hesitated any longer it could compromise the deal, Rouge started walking. She and the Doctor were about ten paces apart. At about the seventh pace, Rouge had to stop for a second as her heel got caught in an ill-placed manhole cover. Pulling it out and looking angrily over at Eggman to see if he was laughing, she resumed her walk. As she drew closer, the Doctor smiled and withdrew a disk from his right pocket. Rouge smiled. Omega's plans. She reached into her own pocket, which blended seamlessly into her tight pants to avoid pickpockets. From it, she took her memory stick, complete with Faust's plans on them. She hadn't bothered to dummy them out, although she had removed Tails' other documents from the disk. Once she did that, Eggman brought out the real treasure. A grey emerald, with a sombre shine that lit up the night. The Chaos Emerald. Rouge licked her lips. It was so beautiful.

"Well, Doctor. Hand over the emerald and the plans, if you please." Rouge smirked. To her surprise, the Doctor complied almost instantly. With only a single farewell look at his emerald and not even a glance at Omega's plans, he pushed them into Rouge's hands in a resigned manner. Rouge smiled. It looked like the Doctor was going to play by the rules this time around. She tipped the memory stick into the Doctor's awaiting palms. A grin lit up Eggman's face. _Goodness knows what he wants those plans for. He seems excited, though…_Rouge thought, her natural wariness once again airing its voice. She brushed it away. It wasn't any of her concern. Whatever the Doctor was going to do with Faust's plans, they could deal with it when the time came. And by then, she'd have thought up a tasty alibi.

"A pleasure doing business with you, Doctor." Rouge winked, turning abruptly and beginning to walk away. She had what she needed, and she'd even gotten a Chaos Emerald into the bargain. It seemed that she was getting very good at persuading men to hand over their treasures. Maybe the surgery wasn't a waste after all…

As she walked away, her heel got stuck once again in the manhole cover. She cursed in irritation. This was getting embarrassing. Sure enough, as she bent down to pull her heel from the cover, she heard Eggman laughing that obnoxious laugh of his. At once, she turned around to shout at him. She locked eyes with him just as he pushed the button his remote control.

Instantly, Rouge doubled up in pain. Or, she would have. But she couldn't move a muscle. She felt her fur stand up on end as the electric shock passed through her. It had been a trap. The manhole was a fake. Eggman hadn't been double bluffing after all. Another surge went through her and she started to see stars. She tried to scream, but couldn't. It was all she could do to keep breathing.

"Ohohoho! Silly bat-girl! You didn't really think I'd hand over one of only two Chaos Emeralds for some stupid plans, did you? It's a shame, really. If you'd only been asking for Omega's plans, I might have played fair!" the Doctor laughed, sauntering towards her. She tried once again to move, but she only earned another laugh from the Doctor.

"Hah! That gizmo works on hedgehogs, it works on echidnas, it worked on the Gizoid and it sure as hell works on you! Serves you right, bat girl!"

Still laughing, Eggman prized both the Emerald and Omega's plans from Rouge's hands. Then, he grabbed her chin roughly, and forced her to look at him.

"Hmph. I'd be tempted, if you were human. Don't worry. The damage isn't as bad as it feels." the Doctor laughed. He then started to stride away as Rouge watched helplessly.

The Doctor was pleased with himself. He'd gotten something for nothing, and brought that pesky bat down a peg or two in the process. Now, he decided, it was time to head back to his lab and analyse those plans. He wasn't sure what he'd find, but he had a fairly good idea, from the research he'd been doing. And, if he found out the things he needed to…Eggman shivered at the thought. The world's Chaos Emeralds could be his.

As he plodded on, absorbed in his own thoughts, Eggman didn't notice that his shadow was following him in a decidedly odd manner. He didn't hear the near-silent footfalls of an attacker. He didn't sense the tiny heat source behind him.

Faust struck.

Coming swiftly from the side, the bat's blue-tinged fists caught the doctor on the neck in a flying clothesline. Instantly, the doctor was launched into the alleyway opposite. Rouge's ears picked up the sound of a remote clattering onto the ground, and then the sound of a heavy boot coming down on it. At once, the electricity stopped. Rouge opened her eyes to see Faust dashing into the alleyway after Eggman. Pulling her heel from the fake manhole cover, she set off in hot pursuit.

The Doctor's long legs- plus the distance Faust's punch had sent him flying- had given him a considerable lead on the bats. As soon as he'd hit the floor, the Doctor was up and running. But Faust was hot on his tail, and Rouge was bringing up the rear. Faust's quicksilver run brought him ever closer to Eggman, and it was obvious that the Doctor was beginning to sweat. With one last lunge and a flap of his wings, Faust crashed into the Doctor's legs and held tight, sending Eggman's lanky frame crashing to the ground like a felled tree. Two disks and an emerald were catapulted into the air. Instantly, Faust was after them. Soaring high across the moon, he snatched a disk out of the air and dropped down to the floor. As Rouge caught up to him, she heard his dusky voice curse. It was the wrong disk. Rouge's memory stick, with Faust's precious data, was still pinwheeling through the air. Faust shot after it, but he was too slow. It clattered to the ground- and the Doctor snatched it up like a pirate snatches a gold doubloon. Then Eggman was off running again.

Faust cursed, and erupted into a dash. But, sadly, as a military weapon, he had never heard the old adage 'what goes up, must come down'. And the grey emerald did come down, like a falling meteorite. It smashed into Faust's head, knocking him to the floor. The grey emerald bounced and clattered once, twice on the stone streets. Faust got up and started after Eggman again, but something smashed into the back of his head, knocking him straight back down again. As he scrabbled back onto his feet, he knew that Eggman had gone.

Rouge's hand went up to her mouth as the emerald bounced again, before finally coming to a stop behind Faust. Then, it started to shudder like an engine being revved, before shooting back at the bat's head, seemingly of it's own accord. Faust turned and tried to swat it away, confused. Rouge took to her wings and grabbed the emerald, but still felt it straining towards the government weapon.

"Faust! What are you doing here? Did you get the disks? And what did you do to my emerald?" Rouge asked, firing off the questions like bullets.

"In order? I was passing by when I heard you and Eggman talking about your little deal. I got one disk, but it's the wrong one. He's got my data. And I have no idea. What's the deal with that thing?" Faust growled in reply.

"Huh…I don't know. Chaos Emeralds don't usually react this way…" Rouge mused.

"…Chaos Emerald? That's a Chaos Emerald?" Faust's golden eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes…"

"That explains it." the bat said, pressing a bandaged hand to his head. "Chaos Emeralds are attracted to each other like magnets. I'm a fake chaos emerald, with all the properties of a real one, but scaled down…So, it's attracted to me."

"Wow…I wasn't expecting that." Rouge muttered, avoiding Faust's eyes.

A silence came between the two. Faust glared at her, accusing her with his eyes. Rouge couldn't meet them.

"Why?" Faust spat, breaking the silence at last.

"Why what?" Rouge asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb."

"…I need those files. No, Omega needs them. Once he has those plans, he won't just be a robot anymore. He'll be a person. Plus, the emerald was a nice bonus. We can always use more emeralds." Rouge muttered.

"So, giving a robot life was worth sacrificing mine?" Faust asked, disgust engraved into his voice.

"Sacrificing? How is giving him your plans sacrificing anything? All he can do is find out about you." Rouge asked defensively.

"And do you know how _much_ he could find out? My plans specify every detail about me, right down to the length of my eyelashes. I'm just lucky that the ones you gave him were my biological plans."

"…Biological plans? …What?"

Faust grimaced. "I'm half bio and half weapon, Rouge. I have plans for both- plans for my organic components and plans for my mechanics."

"I see…And why is it a good thing we gave him biological plans?" Rouge asked. She was starting to get lost.

"Because if he had mechanical plans, he'd have data for all the chips in my body. And he could write a virus to wreck them all, or control me, or…the possibilities are endless, Rouge." Faust said gravely.

Once again, silence fell between them. They hadn't realised quite how loud their voices were.

"I'll get you for betraying me, Rouge. Somehow, I'll pay you back." Faust spat, looking at Rouge's face with disgust. Rouge said nothing. Somewhere, some part of the femme fatale's tiny conscience was telling her she deserved it.

Faust began to walk away, swiftly slipping into the folds of the night. Shortly after, Rouge herself disappeared.

Five stories above, Cream lay awake, her sensitive ears burning with the things she'd heard.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

The next morning, when the whole 'crew' (to quote Sonic) arrived at Tails' house, there was a small sense of tension. And most of it was coming from Faust. With deep, heavy bags under his eyes, and eyes set in a concrete glare, the bat was stomping around the house like a petulant child, all the while juggling at least five breakfast related tasks that he wasn't any good at. Sonic had returned from yesterday's 'date' with Amy, and he had a couple of new bruises to prove it. Tails was in the lab, analysing Knuckle's emerald. Shadow had, of course, appeared from nowhere, with good news about the Chaotix detective agency. They were just waiting for the girls to arrive.

The first member of the fairer sex to open the door was Amy. Sonic rolled his eyes at Shadow when she came in and sat besides him, putting her hand in his (burnt, as Faust was cooking) jam toast. Sonic and Amy's relationship was about the same as it had always been- a constant tug of war between a girl with a love for a guy and a guy with a love of freedom. Realistically, it wasn't going anywhere. Sonic would always strain to be free, and Amy would always strain to keep him in her arms, and that was that. Shadow and Amy's relationship hadn't changed much either- Amy was obsessed with Sonic, but Shadow was a dark horse in the race for her heart. Although, that was a race it seemed neither Shadow nor Sonic were interested in.

The next through the door was Cream. She seemed a little tired, with none of the usual pep in her step that she usually had. In truth, she was still pondering the events of last night. Having such a great sense of hearing wasn't always a boon, and she was beginning to look at Faust in a new way.

"Faust? Are you okay?" she said, as the bat balanced another stack of burnt bread on a plate.

"I had a bad night." Faust muttered. Cream frowned. A normal person would have just said yes. The part of Faust that couldn't lie was becoming a window into the sense of turmoil he was experiencing.

"Oh…I'm sorry. I hope you cheer up in the day." Cream replied, smiling her biggest smile.

"Don't count on it." Faust muttered quietly.

"Great…A bio-weapon that gets up on the wrong side of bed. Station Square's _really _safe now." Shadow said sarcastically. Faust sniffed, and handed Shadow a plate of very burnt toast.

It was at that moment that Rouge chose to walk in. Instantly, the tension in the room trebled. Faust was looking at her with pure venom, and the rest of the team noticed that something was very wrong indeed.

"Eh…So, what, Faust? No toast for me?" Rouge asked sweetly, plastering her face with a huge false smile. It was the physical expression of 'nothing to see here, move along'.

"No. We just ran out of bread. There's a few failed attempts in the bin if you're that concerned about your three square meals." Faust retorted, his voice full of acid.

"What's up with him?" Amy whispered into Sonic's ear. Sonic shrugged, and decided to speak up.

"Hey, uh, Faust. You sure you're a guy?" the blue hedgehog asked jovially. The silence echoed through the whole room like a thunderclap, and someone dropped a fork. Suddenly Sonic realised that this wasn't the best idea he'd ever had.

"Yes. Yes, I'm quite sure. Why?" Faust answered through gritted teeth.

"Well…Uh…I was just thinking…If you were, well, a woman…It might be…Y'know…that time of month…" Sonic carried on sheepishly.

Faust said nothing. He just clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, before walking over to the table.

"Shadow…You're my friend, aren't you?" the bat asked slyly.

"…Is that a trick question?"

"I'm going to have to ask you to punch Sonic. Because if I do it, I'm going to get carried away and kill him."

"Hmph. I love the smell of violence in the morning." Shadow grinned.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"Sir. Sorry for waking everyone, but I have some news to report." the Head of Intelligence said, shuffling his papers. He always shuffled his papers. It was like a facial expression to him. Nervous? Shuffle the papers. Angry? Shuffle the papers. Sad? Commit suicide. Or so Goriah wished. Of all the things Dr. Goriah had been accused of, being a morning person was not one of them.

"Go on." the President nodded, lifting a cup of coffee to his lips.

"Shadow has enlisted Team Chaotix's help. He's paying them to investigate us." the Head said. Shuffle-shuffle went the papers. Goriah tapped his fingers on the desk.

"How did you know that?" Oswin asked, swigging decaffeinated espresso from a hip-flask.

"Well, we give Chaotix a job every now and then. Usually, we make it out as a woman who's afraid her husband is cheating on her…And it turns out to be a poker night. When our decoy is in their office, she puts a bugging device somewhere in the vicinity. It's usually disguised as something worthless, so they often get thrown away- which is why we need to keep replacing them. However, between Vector's phone conversations and some of the shadier clients, it's a good way to keep our finger on the pulse." Shuffle-shuffle-shuffle. Would it ever end?

"Wow. That's amazing." Oswin said, in what could pass for a genuine tone.

"Well, that's why I'm head of intelligence." the man smiled. Shuffle-shuffle-shuffle. Why was it that whenever Goriah had to spend any time with the Head of Intel, he wished he had a gun?

"Goriah. Do you have any news?" the President asked, as if he knew what Goriah were thinking.

"Yes, but it isn't good. We've discovered some defects in three of the Faust 25 models, which will take a day or two to fix. However, the other four are operational."

"Which four are they?"

"25 Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Omega."

As Oswin looked around the circle, a plan started to slot itself together in his mind.

"Sir." he said, standing and saluting. "I propose that we use the newly-formed Team Bravado to distract or harm Chaotix. With that accomplished, we can deploy the four operational Faust units for a strike against the Sonic Team. If we can deplete their numbers, the rest of them will be easier to destroy."

"Aha. Divide and conquer. I see. Very well then. We'll commence the plan tomorrow." the president sighed. "Meeting adjourned."

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"So, anyway. What are our plans for today?" Sonic winced, rubbing his kidneys. Shadow could pass for an amateur boxer any day of the week.

"Nothing. We're at a stalemate. One side needs to make a move to break it, but we don't gain any advantage in doing so. We'll wait for them to make the first move." Shadow shrugged.

Cream looked around the circle. It was a strange collection. Sitting directly opposite each other were Shadow and Sonic, who were as different as night and day. One a carefree hero, the other a calculating weapon of war. One was an honourable and resilient fighter, the other was an irresistible force with his chaos energy and gun-toting antics. And yet, here they were, sitting opposite each other with a common aim, making jokes and chatting. They were pretty much opposites, and yet there they were.

On the other hand, there were Faust and Rouge. In Cream's eyes, they were actually very similar to each other- not counting the fact that they were both bats. Faust was a government weapon who saw the truth. Rouge was a government agent who stole secrets. They both flew in the dead of night, and they were both (kind of) members of Team Dark. They both moved with that strange, silky motion, and they both attacked viciously when provoked. And yet, they hated each other with a passion few could match. Faust hated Rouge for betraying him. Rouge hated Faust for humiliating her on their first meeting. And yet, they were so similar.

Cream's reverie was interrupted when Amy elbowed her gently in the ribcage. "Hey, Cream. I see you noticed it too." the pink hedgehog whispered.

"Noticed what, Amy?" Cream asked innocently.

"Faust and Rouge." Amy winked conspiratorially.

"What about them?"

"Shh…I'll talk to you about it afterwards. " Amy giggled, going back to her blackened toast.

"So, weapon. What will you do today?" Shadow asked gruffly.

"Hff." Faust huffed. "I think I'll hang around with Tails for the day."

"Suit yourself. Rouge, you and I will be heading back home. We need to check on things." Shadow carried on. Rouge nodded, her eyes fixed on Faust's.

"Well, uh…I'm going for a jog. See ya, guys." Sonic said, practically upending the table and rushing out of the door before Amy could stop him. Amy just sighed.

Shadow stood up and walked out of the room. Everyone knew he was checking on Omega. Omega was still recharging, and Tails was performing minor repairs on him in the meantime. However, the fox was finding it difficult, having no real knowledge of Omega's framework.

"Shadow…You go on ahead. I need to talk to Tails." Rouge said, her voice dropping. Shadow nodded. Then, with a 'fwip' of his cloak and a flash of light, he was gone.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

Faust grunted as the others made their way out of the kitchen. Rouge looked at him critically.

"I'm not doing this to make you uncomfortable. If you must know, I'm giving the Chaos Emerald and Omega's blueprints to Tails for the moment." Rouge sniffed.

"So you won't be telling him how you got my files from his computer, I wager?" Faust asked slyly. Rouge winced. He'd hit the nail straight on the head, and now he had something to use against her.

"What do you want me to do, Faust? I can't undo my mistakes, no matter how good I am." Rouge hissed. "Besides, you said it yourself. Those plans weren't too important."

"I'll tell you what I want you to do." Faust said, rising to his full height and stretching his wings. Rouge noted how much bigger he looked.

"Well? I'm waiting. And you can quit trying to make yourself bigger. You're a runt no matter what you do." Rouge smirked.

Faust moved quickly- too quickly- and then, he was standing there, his face mere inches from hers, his great, golden eyes looking straight into hers. His hands closed around her wrists like vices.

"From now on, Rouge, I want you to stay close to me." he said in his dusky, floating voice. That voice that was so much like Shadow's…

Rouge blinked for a moment. "Sorry, but you're not my type."

"Laugh it up, traitor. I want you where I can see you." Faust hissed. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right? If so, I want you very close indeed."

"And here I thought romance was dead." Rouge quipped, rolling her eyes. Faust's jaw set in a stubborn frown- like Knuckle's when he ground his teeth. "Fine then. I'll stay close, Romeo. Just watch I don't stab you in the back."

Faust released her wrists, and stepped back quickly. Then, his face rearranged into a wry grin.

"If you stab me in the back, Rouge, I'll be sure to let all the silicone out of your chest." Faust laughed, beginning to run like a bat out of hell.

**********+++++++**********+++++++**********+++++++

"So, Amy. What did you want to talk about?" Cream asked, taking another lick of her ice-cream cone. Subconsciously, she knew Amy was trying to butter her up with ice-cream, so whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

The pink hedgehog looked back at her rabbit companion and winked. Instantly, Cream's blood froze. Amy winking was never, ever a good sign.

"Weeeeeeeeeellll…You saw Faust and Rouge this morning, didn't you?" Amy said coyly.

"Yeah. They were…Upset with each other." Cream said, remembering what she had heard the night before. Faust and Rouge had chosen not to reveal it, and they must have had a good reason not to. But it was annoying to have to keep it a secret.

"Not quite, my dear Cream." Amy smiled. "If you looked closely, it was Faust who was upset with Rouge."

"…Where are you going with this, Amy?" Cream asked politely. In truth, the hedgehog had totally lost her. How could that be of any significance?

"Well, I'm just thinking…Faust may _look_ as old as we are, but actually, he's only been alive for a few days, right? And this morning he was having a tantrum, just like a little kid. Maybe that's what he is, on the inside."

As weird as it seemed, Cream had to give Amy credit for making a theory with some actual evidence behind it. Cream had noticed it too- at times, Faust was a military weapon, melancholy and distant. At others, he looked around with wonder, like a child. Her mind reached back to the incident two days ago. If he was a military weapon, and a stealth weapon at that, why would he make such a fuss abut wearing a disguise, even if it was a disguise that made him look like a woman? Somehow, Faust was a little more childish than he appeared.

"Well, yeah. Maybe. But what has that got to do with anything?" Cream asked.

At that point, Cream saw the twinkle in Amy's eyes that usually signalled something truly disastrous. From the first time she had seen it, it had scared the life out of Cream. As much as Cream hated to admit it, some of Amy's plans were less…Well, sane, than others. Cream was too polite to say it, but there were some times when Amy was truly crazy. And that little twinkle was usually a sign that one of her less rational plans was coming up.

"Maybe, Faust is still a kid romantically, too. You know…The old hate equals love thing from school? Sonic does that too, y'know." Amy giggled.

"….Amy, I don't think that's the case-"

"Of course it is! My heart never lies, Cream! Those two are into each other!"

"Amy, no. No, no, no. They don't like each other. They hate each other. More than you know. They detest each other." Cream said, her brown eyes becoming huge as she finally realised where the conversation was going. But, with a shudder, she noticed that Amy wasn't listening.

"Come on, Cream! We've got to think of a way to get those two together!" Amy said, starting to walk off. Moments later, Cream ran after her.

(A/N: At the risk of spoilers to the story, NO. I am NOT going to do an Original Character x Official Character match up. It's just Amy being crazy. And the consequences that result from that. Plus, Sega has kindly already provided a love triangle for Rouge, and I don't particularly feel like making it a love…square.)

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Well, originally this chapter was going to be a little longer, but I decided not to push it. It's been a hard chapter to write, and I apologise about the delay. Also, to those kind people who reviewed me, I apologise for not replying. To be honest, I didn't really know I had any. I forgot the password to my email, and I only checked yesterday. I'll try and reply to you as soon as possible- I value your support and criticism. On a side note, rejoice! I've finished all my exams, which means I can focus on my writing more.

I hope you like this chapter, and I also hope you'll like the next one- Chapter Fourteen, The Assault Begins! See you next time!


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